NUBA – National unit for investigating failures towards children
Nasjonal enhet for undersøkelse av svikt mot barn (NUBA – National unit for investigating failures towards children) is a newly established, independent unit within the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision (Statens helsetilsyn). Its mandate is to investigate serious cases where children have been subjected to homicide, severe violence, sexual abuse or serious neglect, in order to identify system failures and prevent future incidents.
Background and mandate
The establishment of NUBA is a direct follow-up of the report from the Child Violence Committee (Barnevoldsutvalget) (NOU 2017:12 Svikt og svik, “Failure and betrayal”). The committee pointed to a critical need for a permanent, multidisciplinary investigation scheme that can look across sectors such as child welfare, health, school and police when society’s safety net fails the most vulnerable children.
NUBA was formally established in 2024/2025 as part of the government’s escalation plan against violence and abuse. The work is anchored in the new barnevoldsundersøkelsesloven (the Child Violence Investigation Act, Prop. 141 L (2024–2025)), which gives the unit broad powers to obtain confidential information in order to get a complete picture of the course of events.
Working methods and core tasks
NUBA differs from traditional supervision in that it is not meant to assign individual blame or criminal liability. The focus is solely on learning and system improvement.
Multidisciplinary approach: The team consists of experts from different sectors in order to understand the interaction (or lack thereof) between public services.
The child’s voice: The unit has a statutory responsibility to ensure that the children concerned are heard, and that their perspective becomes part of the knowledge base.
Sanction-free learning: So that staff in the services dare to be open about mistakes, the scheme is sanction-free. As a main rule, the information collected cannot be used as evidence in later criminal cases against individuals.
Current focus areas (2024–2026)
A review of the latest reports from the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision and media coverage shows that NUBA operates in a landscape marked by several critical challenges:
Cases in child welfare institutions: Following the Board of Health Supervision’s review of deaths in child welfare institutions, particular attention has been paid to the lack of specialised health care for children with complex needs.
Digital collaboration: In line with the challenges identified in SAMT-BU, NUBA is looking at how digital information exchange (or the lack of it) prevents early identification of risk.
Follow-up of “oblivion”: The unit investigates cases where children “fall between the cracks” in transitions between municipal and state services.
Summary: Why is NUBA important for SAMT-BU?
Across the references we see a clear common thread: Failures rarely happen in a single service, but in the gaps between them. NUBA’s findings provide the necessary insight for building seamless services. While SAMT-BU works on the technical and legal solutions for collaboration, NUBA delivers the “evidence” of why these solutions are vital. By systematising learning from the darkest cases, NUBA helps projects such as SAMT-BU prioritise the right measures to ensure that information follows the child, and that no warning lights are switched off without action.
References and sources
Helsetilsynet (Norwegian Board of Health Supervision): NUBA – National unit for investigating failures towards children (in Norwegian)
Regjeringen.no: Prop. 141 L (2024–2025) – the Child Violence Investigation Act (Barnevoldsundersøkelsesloven, in Norwegian)
SAMT-BU Docs: Insight from current media coverage
NOU 2017:12: Svikt og svik – Gjennomgang av saker hvor barn har vært utsatt for vold, overgrep og omsorgssvikt (“Failure and betrayal – A review of cases where children have been subjected to violence, abuse and neglect”, in Norwegian).