The national border can make it difficult for Sámi families to obtain child welfare services and family counselling services when parents or other family members live on different sides of the border. The laws of Finland and Norway differentiate in many topics, which makes it challenging to cooperate across the border.
The Wellbeing Services County of Lapland (FIN), The National Sámi Competence Centre (NASAK, NOR) and Karasjok Municipality’s Unit for Children, Youth, and Families (NOR) cooperates in the Interreg Aurora funded small-scale project Cross-Border Cooperation in Sámi Children and Families Service. The project will chart possibilities for children and families’ social services on the Finnish Norwegian border. The project partners are in contact with the Finnish and Norwegian Sámi Parliaments about further collaboration on the matter. The project will map issues and risks of cross-border collaboration and suggest solutions for them. The purpose is to find ways to implement cross-border services and collaboration for the best interest of Sámi children and families.
This small-scale project is a pre-project for an application of a subsequent larger scale project which will focus on piloting cross-border Sámi children and families’ services.
Contact info:
Heini Huhtamella, project expert, The Wellbeing Services County of Lapland, heini.huhtamella@lapha.fi
Trine Solbakk, project expert/clinical psychologist, NASAK, trine.solbakk@bufetat.no
Karen Marie Joks, Child Protective Services leader, Karasjok municipality, karen.marie.joks@karasjok.kommune.no
Photo: Árvu/Marie Louise Somby
