Putting the Child at the Centre

Barnahus works as a safe place for children and families who have been affected by forms of violence to speak with different people like police, social workers, doctors, and therapists who all work together in one place. Barnahus is often described as a child-friendly house with four rooms. Together these rooms provide all of the services a child and family need to support them through their journey from disclosure to recovery: criminal investigation, child protection, physical health (with medical examination), and recovery and support needs, including family support. The first Barnahus was introduced in Iceland in 1998. The Barnahus model meets children’s rights standards, like the UNCRC mentioned above. It is also approved by the Council of Europe as a child-friendly model for justice and recovery. The staff at Barnahus work together to make it easier for children to share their story and to heal.

Important features of Barnahus are a child-friendly environment, access to information and services that are part of the criminal justice and child welfare investigation, and access to therapeutic services to support children’s recovery. There is no one single model of Barnahus, countries have taken different approaches. Each country must follow important guidelines; a set of 10 standards when delivering Barnahus. These are summarised below:

1- Guiding rules for Barnahus: Children and families’ best interests and needs come first. Children are able to participate, including being heard and having access to information in a way that they feel supported. Children and families have protection, assistance, and justice processes are not delayed.

2 – Interagency collaboration: Many different agencies, like the police, social workers, solicitors, and therapists work together at Barnahus. They need a contract on how they will work together so that they are in agreement. The Barnahus service needs to be recognised and supervised to national standards.

3 – Inclusive eligibility: All children who have experienced or witnessed all forms of abuse or violence should be able to go to Barnahus.

4 – Child-friendly environment: The Barnahus should feel like a home for a child or young person. Inside it should look child friendly. The Barnahus should be easy for children and young people and their families to travel to.

5 – Interagency information management: The Barnahus staff take care of all the information that children and their families share with them as part of the child’s case. This process should be simple for children and families.

6 – Forensic interview: The interview is conducted by a specialist trained interviewer, and it should be based on the best-practices for interviewing children and young people. The interview should also be adapted for the child or young person’s age and any specific needs that the child or young person has so that it is easy to understand the questions.

7 – Medical examination: If a medical examination is needed, the medical examination should happen at the Barnahus on the same day the child or young person talks with an interviewer and a specialist medical professional should do the medical examination.

8 – Therapeutic services: Specialist trained staff work at Barnahus and give mental health services for children and families.

9 – Capacity building: Staff at Barnahus have regular trainings, and they improve their work often. The Barnahus is also evaluated to see if it is working well and where it can improve.

10 – Focus on prevention: The Barnahus is a centre where other professionals can be trained. The Barnahus helps to teach the public about violence prevention and awareness.

Barnahus is starting to come to the United Kingdom and to Ireland. England opened the London Child House, “The Lighthouse,” in 2018 as a multiagency service for children and young people who have experienced any form of sexual abuse. It offers a child-centred approach, providing guidance and support to help children and young people recover. Ireland launched the Onehouse Galway Barnahus in 2019, while Scotland is in the process of opening its first Barnahus model estimated for 2022. Sir John Gillen, an advisor to parliament in the United Kingdom and a former Lord Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland wrote in a 2019 report that the Barnahus model should be seriously considered for children and young people in Northern Ireland.

This was one of the most important themes to come from the interviews with young people. Firstly, young people talked about the importance of the first person they disclosed the abuse to and the importance of being believed. This critical moment was in some way a ‘test of the waters’ and to see if they would be believed, and if they felt safe and validated. Those who do not feel believed may stop sharing their story and may not continue with justice and recovery services.

The stories of young people showed that experiencing abuse had a big impact on their lives. Many areas of their daily lives were affected, including mental and physical health, education, family life and close relationships. However, when support was provided this helped the young person to heal and take control back of their lives. It often felt like a long journey to recovery, but support helped.

Young people mentioned that they did not feel they were given a lot of information about how long some of the processes would take, like the criminal justice process or how long they would have to wait to speak with a therapist. Even though the services were doing their best to help, young people felt like they were just a number in the system.

Young people said they felt intimidated and questioned when they were sharing their testimonies for the justice process, for example with a police officer or solicitor. They wished that the questions were easy to understand for them, and they wanted to feel that their stories were important.