Questions we are often asked.
Short answers to what we are most often asked about the system, our independence, privacy, and how we work. If you can't find your answer, get in touch.
Is a system like this realistic?
Yes, not least because we are not inventing anything. Each component of the system exists and is in daily use abroad: investigative newsrooms run traceable document archives, universities run promise-trackers, and parliamentary monitors have followed national legislatures for more than twenty years. Our job is to piece together well-proven solutions and adapt them to the Icelandic setting: the machine speeds up the work, people carry the responsibility.
Doesn't this already exist?
Various public bodies collect statistics on children and carry out oversight, each in its own field, and the Child Well-being Dashboard publishes important measures. HÆ does not replace them; it adds what only an independent body can provide: an independent overview across the systems, continuous follow-up on promises, and outside scrutiny.
Are you truly independent?
Being funded is not the same as being beholden. Independence is protected in the structure itself: no single contribution holds a dominant share, no contribution carries conditions that bind our findings, and the funding is transparent. The organization is non-partisan, and board members serve as independent representatives under its statutes.
How do you protect children's privacy?
We analyse the system, not individual cases. The database holds no personally identifiable information about children or families; the profiles are about institutions, laws, services, and public decisions. Where people's experience provides context, it is never recorded in a personally identifiable way.
Do you use artificial intelligence?
Yes, as a tool, not a judge. The machine speeds up the work, people carry the responsibility: it fetches documents, drafts classifications, and ranks suggestions by reliability, but nothing is published until a person has reviewed it, and substantive judgment is never automated.
What happens if you publish an error?
We correct it publicly. Errors found after publication go into a public corrections log stating what was wrong, what is right, and when it was fixed. We hold ourselves to the same standard we ask of others, and we welcome tips at abendingar@hagsmunasamtokaeskunnar.is.
I work with children and know of a flaw in the system. What happens to my tip?
It points us in the right direction. Insight from people who know the system first-hand tells us where to look and how the system works in practice. But insight is context, not a source: only traceable data is published as fact, and tips are never recorded in a personally identifiable way. A secure, encrypted tip-off channel is in design; until then we receive tips at abendingar@hagsmunasamtokaeskunnar.is.
Are you against the government or the child-wellbeing legislation?
No. The organization is non-partisan and puts forward the facts, the system's strengths as well as its weaknesses, objectively and with sources. Our role is to distinguish what is decided, what is delivered, and what actually changes. That is scrutiny, not opposition.
What is the difference between HÆ and the Ombudsman for Children?
The Ombudsman for Children is an independent public office, established by law, that safeguards children's rights and, among other things, compiles figures on children's waits for services. HÆ is an independent public-benefit organization outside the system of government: we gather public data in one place, monitor promises and delivery over time, and provide outside scrutiny. The two roles complement each other.