The challenge

Norway’s child welfare services have long struggled with fragmented systems, lack of coordination between municipalities, and a growing administrative burden. This has diverted resources from direct work with children and families and hampered the services’ ability to respond effectively and provide the necessary support. 

One central obstacle has been a lack of IT support. Employees and leaders have expressed frustration over systems failing to support the delivery of high-quality child welfare services, highlighting among other things a lack of efficient reporting and management options as major obstacles. 

The solution 

To address these challenges and enhance the quality of child welfare services in Norway, The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs, the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, and eight of Norway’s largest municipalities initiated the DigiBarnevern project in 2016. By 2021, Modulus Barn emerged as a part of this project. 

Based on Netcompany’s AMPLIO platform, Modulus Barn is a comprehensive, GDPR-compliant digital solution that connects child welfare services across the country. It ensures efficient data flows, improves collaboration, standardises processes, and offers intuitive tools that reduce the administrative burden on case workers. This frees up time for what truly matters – direct work with children and families. 

With the new Child Welfare Professional Quality System (BFK), case workers have access to essential professional and legal support throughout all phases of a child welfare case. Integration with the National Portal for Concern Reports and the National Child Welfare Register ensures seamless information flow. As digital citizen services gradually roll out, children and families will experience more transparent and inclusive support. Lastly, the modular nature of the solution ensures ease of further development.

»The municipalities collectively decide the direction for further development of Modulus Barn«, says Kristin Brørs, Principal at Netcompany.

Results

Successfully implemented in 64 municipalities, and expanding to 120 municipalities by early 2025, Modulus Barn is on track to becoming a national standard for child welfare services in Norway. Modulus Barn’s functionality will continuously develop to meet future needs, such as integrating citizen services.

»Starting as an initiative by the largest municipalities, DigiBarnevern is now transitioning to a national quality improvement for both large and small municipalities across Norway. It’s incredibly exciting to be a part of this digital transformation, and I look forward to what’s next«, says Kristin Brørs, Principal at Netcompany.

Modulus Barn represents a new era for child welfare services in Norway, where technology and collaboration are central to providing better support for children and families in vulnerable situations. With a solid foundation and a clear path forward, the DigiBarnevern project shows how innovation can transform public services for the better.  

This collaborative model is not only effective within child welfare services but also provides a robust framework for scaling digital transformation in other municipal tasks, paving the way for increased efficiency and improved services across the public sector.