Invisible Differentness in Sámi Child Protection Services

Abstract

The paper explores what lies behind the development of Sámi child protection services in practice. The study is an empirical investigation of how policymakers and child welfare leaders reflect on the challenges and opportunities in this field. All the twelve participants in the study worked in northernmost counties of Norway that are part of the Sámi-language administrative district. Although Norwegian regulation is clear when it comes to the cultural and linguistic rights of Sámi children, it is hard for child welfare services to adhere to this in practice. In this article, the focus is on one important aspect that we argue contributes to this situation, which we refer to as “invisible differentness”. Due to the historical misuse of ethnic information in Norway, there is no practice of recording Sámi ethnicity in Norwegian censuses. This makes the Sámi population invisible in both statistics and the Norwegian child welfare system, whose administrative branch does not ask about indigenous status. As such, the administrative system does not help child welfare services to consider Sámi identity when meeting with Sámi children and families. As a result, it is up to the caseworker and his or her personal knowledge of the family to preserve the children’s rights to recognition and protection of their Sámi culture and language. This creates a vulnerable situation for Sámi children and families and the protection of their rights. The authors argue for the importance of including ethnicity in the administrative language and system of child welfare services.