Children who have experienced abuse in most European justice systems are still required to repeat their account of what happened to multiple professionals across separate agencies, according to the Barnahus Network, a member-led organisation working to change that practice.
The model was presented at the Foni conference in Cyprus on 18 June 2026 by Olivia Lind Haldorsson, the network's Secretary General, days after the Council of the European Union formally adopted a revised EU directive built on similar principles. Lind Haldorsson set out both the gap in current practice and the alternative Barnahus proposes.
A new EU legal framework
The Council of the European Union gave final approval to the revised Victims' Rights Directive on 8 June 2026, following its adoption by the European Parliament on 18 May 2026, by 440 votes in favour, 49 against and 84 abstentions. The directive strengthens provisions on child-sensitive proceedings, specialised support services,multidisciplinary cooperation and measures to prevent secondary harm, alongside new EU-wide support helplinesand access to healthcare for those affected by sexual violence. It is due to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in July 2026 and will enter into force 20 days later, after which member states will have 24 months to transpose it into national law. Lind Haldorsson said the directive formalises in law many of the principles Barnahus already applies in day-to-day practice, and described its adoption, concluding Cyprus's presidency of the Council, as providing renewed momentum for coordinated, child-centred responses across Europe.
How children have traditionally been treated
Justice, child protection, healthcare, mental health and support services typically operate under separate mandates, each with its own assessment process, its own interview, and its own professionals working to a different set of priorities. A child moving through this system, according to Lind Haldorsson, does not experience it as five coordinated responses. They experience it as one fragmented one, encountering different people in different settings who often ask for the same information more than once, sometimes within days of each other.
Research cited in her presentation, drawn from more than fifty studies of children's own perspectives on these services, reached what Lind Haldorsson described as a remarkably consistent conclusion. Children value being listened to, believed and taken seriously. They place weight on meaningful participation, built on information explained in a way they can understand. They highlight safety, timely support, respectful relationships and welcoming environments. And, perhaps most consistently of all, they identify coordination between agencies as essential, specifically so they do not have to tell their story over and over again.
Lind Haldorsson was direct about what is being asked of children under the current, fragmented model. They are expected to participate in investigations, assessments and proceedings. They are expected to disclose what happened to them, often to strangers, in unfamiliar settings. They are expected to show patience and resilience navigating processes that many adults struggle to follow. Each additional, uncoordinated interaction, she said, carries a real risk: it can contribute to re-traumatisation, and it can cause a child to withdraw from a process rather than engage with it. For children, she argued, justice is rarely just about the outcome of a case. It is about how they are treated along the way.
What changes under the Barnahus model
Barnahus addresses this by bringing the relevant professionals together in a single, child-friendly space, rather than asking the child to move between offices, buildings and unfamiliar adults. The model originated in Iceland in 1998 and takes its name from the Icelandic for "children's house." In a well-functioning Barnahus, operating to the network's Quality Standards, this means a safe and adapted physical environment, a coordinated, trauma-informed response, and the conditions for a child to participate meaningfully, built on trust rather than procedure.
The practical effect for children is fewer transitions between settings, fewer repeated interviews, and a more predictable experience overall. For the professionals involved, Lind Haldorsson said, it means clearer communication, joint planning, and decisions reached collectively rather than in isolation by each agency. It also creates space for professionals from different disciplines, who would not otherwise interact closely, to learn from one another and develop new shared practices.
Lind Haldorsson argued that the physical space itself is not incidental to this work, and pushed back on the idea that it is simply a backdrop to the services delivered inside it. Children notice, she said, whether an environment feels institutional or welcoming, whether it communicates safety and care, or whether it adds to the unfamiliarity of an already difficult process. That perception, in her account, shapes a child's willingness to trust the adults around them and, in turn, their willingness to participate and disclose at all. Bringing services together under one roof, she said, is therefore about more than administrative convenience. It is about creating the conditions in which a child feels safe enough to engage, supported enough to participate, and respected enough to place their trust in the adults responsible for their case.
Cyprus's place in the network
The Barnahus Network has 57 members across more than 30 countries and was founded in 2019 to support its members in progressively meeting the Barnahus Quality Standards through shared research, evidence and practice. Lind Haldorsson recognised the work of "Hope For Children" CRC Policy Center, the network's member organisation in Cyprus, and of Barnahus in Cyprus, citing their contribution to advancing child-centred justice and multidisciplinary cooperation on the island, achieved, she said, through both political commitment and innovation in day-to-day practice. She also said Cyprus would take part in piloting a new framework intended to place children's own perspectives at the centre of how Barnahus services are evaluated and developed going forward.
The cost of coordination, and of its absence
Citing cost-benefit and social return on investment studies from Latvia, England, Canada and the United States, Lind Haldorsson said coordinated, Barnahus-style responses have produced returns of roughly three to more than five times the original investment. She argued that fragmented systems carry their own costs, in the form of duplication, delays and missed opportunities for early intervention, even where those costs are less visible than the cost of setting up integrated services in the first place. Coordinated approaches, she said, reduce duplication, improve efficiency, enable earlier support, and generate savings across health, social welfare and justice systems over the long term. She framed this not only as a child protection issue, but as one of the more effective investments available to governments.
A model that keeps evolving
Most Barnahus services, including in Cyprus, were established to respond primarily to child sexual abuse. Lind Haldorsson said a number of countries are now exploring how the model can be extended to children exposed to other forms of violence, including physical abuse, domestic violence, harmful practices and trafficking, while also developing coordinated approaches for children who display harmful sexual behaviour themselves, recognising that they often carry complex histories of trauma requiring both accountability and treatment.
The nature of the harm reaching Barnahus services is also changing, she said, pointing to growing concerns around online sexual abuse, cross-border exploitation and AI-generated abuse material, all of which require new, cross-disciplinary responses including adapted interview protocols and crisis support. Lind Haldorsson described Barnahus as a "learning community" rather than a fixed model, and pointed to growing efforts across the network to involve children and young people directly in shaping the services and spaces built for them, including in Cyprus.
