Since 1981 Norway has had an official called the 'Barneombudet', the Advocate for Children. This person's job is to ensure that 'children are seen as people, with their own needs and their own rights - rights equal, but not identical, to those of adults.' For instance, the Barneombudet has worked with the energy ministry to move high-tension wires from areas where children play; it won lower class-room temperatures for a particular Oslo classroom; and it successfully lobbied for a law to prohibit parental striking of children. The law specifically prohibits the Barneombudet from interfering in disputes with families. Children who phone with stories of abuse are asked for their permission and then the local child welfare authorities are asked to take up the matter.
Trond Viggo Torgensen, the physician who has been appointed as the Barneombudet, has set up a free phone number children can call with their messages about what they think is important, with a TV show once a week in which he will take up their topics. His staff, which includes a sociologist, a lawyer and a secretary, answer thousands of phone calls and letters each year; and their phone number is listed in every phone book in Norway.