Child poverty in Norway is rising. The parents' educational level, income level, health and use of public support schemes are transferred between generations. There are clear connections between financial resources in the family and the health and quality of life of children and young people. Today, services for children and families with poor finances and challenging life situations are rarely integrated and coordinated. Kristiansand municipality has developed the project New Patterns with the aim of breaking patterns in which challenges related to child poverty are transferred between generations. Through the public health program, another 10 municipalities in Agder participate in the project. In addition, Stavanger municipality participates.
The innovation is a new model for coordinated interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral efforts for both parents and children in selected low-income families over a period of five years. The model represents service innovation and involves close follow-up of children and adults in the participating families. A permanent family coordinator coordinates the efforts around both adults and children using the Family Plan's coordination tool. The family coordinator is a contact person to the support service and must see the entire family's needs together. The innovation focuses on efforts towards social structures and systems that contribute to creating or continuing the challenges with low income. The R&D activities will examine how innovation affects practice and provide input to the development and adjustment of the model along the way. In addition, we will investigate whether and how the use of the model affects the lives of children and parents, and how different services can be coordinated to optimize the potential of existing health and welfare services. The innovation will be tested in 12 municipalities and the knowledge that is generated will therefore have a great transfer value to other municipalities in Norway.
