Details

Following the survey of the Breiðavík boys' home conducted by the Special Commission appointed according to Law 26/2007, the Commission's work was extended to investigate eight other out-of-home care institutions. Subsequently, the investigations came to include eleven institutions operating between 1947 and 1995.

The terms given to the Commission were:

• to describe the activities of each institution, its role in child protection and education matters and the conditions in which children were kept there;
• to ascertain whether and to what extent children were subjected to ill-treatment or violence during their stay in the relevant institution;
• to describe how official supervision was carried out;
• and to to lay the basis for proposals to the government for further responses.

The Process
As with the first survey conducted by the Commission, there were six main components to its process:

1. obtaining documentary data from public institutions and reports by experts;
2. field trips by commission members to institution sites (August 2008);
3. interviews with the care-leavers;
4. interviews with former employees and other public officials;
5. analysis of information obtained in the form of data, oral testimony and expert opinions;
6. evaluation and presentation of proposals and other responses.

Governing Legislation
Law no. 26/2007

Private Sessions
Over 400 persons (former foster children and employees of the institutions) were interviewed.

Research
A report was commissioned from the director of the Communication Centre for the Deaf on policies in the teaching of the deaf, on the status of the Icelandic sign language and on the results of the research that had been done on the social status of the deaf in Iceland.

Witnesses
State Reception Home: 18 residents, 5 staff

Institutions

Investigation 1:


1. The School for the Deaf in Reykjavik, in operation from 1909 to 2002, with the survey covering the years 1947-1992, during which time 175 children studied there.


2. The privately run residential homes Kumbaravog (1965-1984) and Snekkjuvog (1970-1975) near Stokkseyri, at which 36 children lived.


3. Bjarg's school in Seltjarnarnes (1965-1967) a home for girls aged 14-16 years, operated by the Salvation Army. 20 girls stayed there in this period.


Investigation 2:


4. Silungapoll residential home operated by the City of Reykjavík (1950-1969), for children aged three to seven years, with a total of 951 being placed there.


5. Reykjahlíð residential home at Mosfellssveit (1956-1972), operated by the City of Reykjavík, for children aged 7-14. 144 children were resident there.


6. the boarding school at Jaðr (1946-1973), run by the education authorities in Reykjavík, for boys aged 7-13 who did not get along with other children at school. Typically 25-30 boys attended the school each year, and 378 overall.


Investigation 3:


7. State Reception Home (1945-1971) in Reykjavík and Kópavogur, took in children for short terms for observation for a range of reasons, and primarily served as a resource for child protection committees and the police to house children in emergency situations. A total of 1022 children spent time there.


8. State Youth Home (1971-1994)


9. Treatment Home in Smáratún and Torfastaðir, 1979-1994

Related Inquiries
For the other investigations carried out by the Committee appointed under Law no. 26/2007, see Survey of the activities of the Breiðavík home 1952–1979 and Survey of the placement of children at Kópavogur asylum 1952‒1993.

Commissioners

• Bjarnadóttir, Ragnhildur
• Júlíusdóttir, Sigrún
• Sigurðsson, Jón Friðrik

Publications

Reports

• Skýrsla nefndar samkvæmt lögum nr. 26/2007. Áfangaskýrsla nr. 1. Könnun á starfsemi Heyrnleysingjaskólans 1947–1992, vistheimilisins Kumbaravogs 1965–1984 og skólaheimilisins Bjargs 1965–1967 [A Report of a State Commission on Care-Leavers in Public Institutions Part 1], Reykjavík, 31 August 2009. Details
• Skýrsla nefndar samkvæmt lögum nr. 26/2007. Áfangaskýrsla nr. 2. Könnun á starfsemi vistheimilisins Silungapolls 1950–1969, vistheimilisins Reykjahlíðar 1956–1972 og heimavistarskólans að Jaðri 1946–1972 [A Report of a State Commission on Care-Leavers in Public Institutions Part 2], Reykjavík, 31 August 2010. Details
• Skýrsla nefndar samkvæmt lögum nr. 26/2007. Áfangaskýrsla nr. 3. Könnun á starfsemi Upptökuheimilis ríkisins 1945–1971, Unglingaheimilis ríkisins 1971–1994 og meðferðarheimilisins í Smáratúni og á Torfastöðum 1979–1994 [A Report of a State Commission on Care-Leavers in Public Institutions Part 3], Reykjavík, 21 November 2011. Details

Journal Articles

• Garðarsdóttir, Ólöf, Disobedient Boys and Promiscuous Girls: Views on Institutions for Wayward Youth in Iceland 1900–1960 in Scandinavian Journal of History, 45 no. 2 (2020) 238-261. Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2020.1728375. Details
• Gunnlaugsson, G. & Einarsdóttir, J., Review shows that Icelandic society is taking firmer steps to tackle the diverse forms of child abuse and neglect that its children are exposed to. in Acta Paediatrica, 107(9) (2018) 1500-1511. Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.14355. Details