Norway backs down in child protection scandal

(FASTNEWS|COLOMBO) – Norway is set to review a series of controversial child protection decisions involving a prominent expert convicted of downloading hundreds of thousands of images of child sex abuse.

For years the psychiatrist played a key role in recommendations on children being taken into care.

He was given nearly two years in jail by an Oslo Court in April.

The decision to review his cases follows a public debate sparked by a BBC investigation.

One family, whose two youngest children were kept in foster care following an intervention by the child psychiatrist, has already been reunited in the past few weeks following a Court judgement. The Arnesens’ story featured in the BBC investigation.

Norway’s Child Protection Agency, Barnevernet, has come under attack from some parents and child welfare professionals who say it often takes children into care without adequate justification.