What does it take to successfully implement sexual health in general, and gender and sexuality diversity in particular, as a theme in child welfare services?

In our experience, staff tell us that they only take gender and sexuality into account when children and young people present it themselves, which suggests that sexual health is not routinely assessed in all cases where children are perceived to have health needs. This may be because they don't know how to broach the subject, they ask questions in ways that don't allow children to talk about it, or about something else.

We want to explore this further. In this conversation, we will highlight how we can all contribute to the implementation of sexual health, and hear from the field about how they relate to it. What are the needs in the services and where are the barriers to working well with this theme in child welfare services?

The "National pathway for child welfare" describes that child welfare services must thematise and map sexual health when identifying children's health needs. This is important in order to ensure that children are offered equal services and that they receive comprehensive healthcare.

The event will begin with an introduction from Heidi Leona Norum-Wilmar, Programme Manager for Pink Competence Child Welfare, and Anders Løkkeberg, Psychologist and Team Leader Health at Queer World.

This is followed by a 45-minute panel discussion.

The panel discussion will be chaired by Nayab Fathima Ahmed (Special Advisor for Diversity at Barne- og familieetaten in Oslo)

In the panel you will find:
Liv Marie Melbye - Ombudsman for Children
Nina Sehested - National Association for Child Welfare Children (LFB)
Ellen Galaasen - Child welfare educators in Akademikerforbundet (BiA)
Ole Henrik Kråkenes - Fellesorganisasjonen (FO)

Finally, Rosa kompetanse and Skeiv Verden will talk about their work in the field of child welfare, including the courses offered to actors in the field of child welfare.