Government Minister Laila Dåvøy, who's in charge of child and family issues, says the state's findings emerged after officials investigated complaints related to the situation of some Norwegian children in Spain.
Press reports appeared in Norway earlier this year that many Norwegian children are virtually abandoned by partying parents in Spain, and many spend lots of time unsupervised in local bars. Norwegian authorities were criticized for failing to act, even though responsibility lies with local authorities in Spain.
"The Spanish juvenile authorities are seldom contacted by Norwegians," Dåvøy told newspaper Dagsavisen. She said a clear tendency emerged showing the Norwegians were reluctant to rely on help from Spanish authorities.
Norwegian ghettoes
Norwegian officials found that Norwegians in Spain tended to live in expatriate clusters, that most couldn't speak or understand Spanish and that even authorities at Norwegian schools in Spain failed to report child welfare concerns to their local counterparts.
Dåvøy noted that Spanish juvenile authorities function like those in Norway and will gladly cooperate with Norwegian agencies, if called upon.
Norwegian investigators found that Norwegian children enrolled in Spanish schools were far better integrated than those in Norwegian schools.
Large ex-pat community
It's estimated that as many as 20,000 Norwegian citizens live in Spain, many of them retirees living in the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol areas.
Ironically, Norway's most right-leaning party, the Progress Party, has an active organization for Norwegians in Spain, even though the party is best known in Norway for its harsh criticism of foreigners who emigrate to Norway but fail to learn Norwegian and integrate with Norwegian society.
Progress Party leader Carl I Hagen and his wife Eli have been regularly vacationing in Spain, and have stated an intention to spend their winters there as well, when they retire.
