Nursery Committee (1974-1979)

Illustration of people talking together and working at a desk.

On January 11, 2024, the City Executive Council approved the establishment of a committee of three independent experts to conduct a comprehensive review of Thorvaldsens Association's Nursery (children's community home) from 1974-1979.

Committee members

Specific qualifications of committee members follow the same rules outlined in Article 3 of the Administrative Procedures Act No. 37/1993. Committee members must submit a record of their coincidence of interest as per Reykjavík City’s rules on the registration of interests for public officials.

  • Trausti Fannar Valsson dósent, Chair
  • Urður Njarðvík, Professor of Child Psychology
  • Ellý Þorsteinsdóttir, Social Worker

Nursery Committee email address: voggustofunefnd@reykjavik.is 

The committee is authorized to appoint a clerk. The committee may request assistance and information from parties within and outside Reykjavík City's system of governance regarding specific aspects of the investigation.

In accordance with Article 3 of Act No. 45/2022, the committee will have unrestricted access to all records in government custody concerning the operation of the nurseries covered by the Act. This includes data that contain general and sensitive personal information. If requested by the committee, authorities should compile written reports on individual aspects of the investigation.

The committee is expected to submit its final report to the City Executive Council no later than Dec. 15, 2024. The City Executive Council will determine how to proceed with the committee's final report.

Goals and main tasks

  1. To describe the operations of Thorvaldsens Association's Nursery, its role in child protection and/or upbringing, and the circumstances under which children were accommodated there during the period in question.
  2. To endeavor to the best extent possible to verify if and to what extent children residing at the institution suffered abuse or violence during their stay.
  3. To describe how Reykjavík City's and the State's oversight of nurseries was conducted.
  4. To review other issues related to the nursery's operations that the committee believes require further review.
  5. To lay the groundwork for proposals to the City Executive Council on further responses if deemed necessary.
  6. The committee should submit a report on its work to the City Executive Council.

The committee's meetings are to be closed.

Committee members and its clerk are bound by confidentiality regarding any individual's private life about which they obtain information during the committee's work. The confidentiality of such matters persists after the end of the committee's work.

The committee's chair is allowed to provide general information about the committee's work and procedures while it is in progress.

Various resolutions

Nursery Committee (1949-1973)

Nursery investigation

An independent committee that Reykjavík City appointed to investigate Thorvaldsens Association Nursery operations in Reykjavík from 1974-1979 presented its findings at a City Executive Council meeting on Jan. 15, 2026. This follow-up investigation was conducted after an earlier study of nursery operations in the city from 1949-1973.

The committee reached three main conclusions:

  1. First, it cannot be confirmed that children who stayed at the nursery from 1974-1979 suffered mistreatment at the institution as defined under Act No. 45/2022.
  2. Second, child protection agencies frequently failed to follow proper legal procedures in decisions to place children at the institution.
  3. Third, government oversight of how children were treated at the institution was severely limited and failed to meet legal requirements for oversight during this time.

Operations improved from earlier period, but some areas remained deficient

From 1974-1979, a total of 236 children were placed at the Thorvaldsens Association Nursery. No children were placed at the institution after February 1979, when the facility was merged with the Children's Institutional Home (Vistheimili barna) at Dalbraut 12 in Reykjavík during the first half of that year.

The committee found that conditions at the Thorvaldsens Association Nursery, children's living arrangements, child care and parents' visiting opportunities were better during 1974-1979 than in the pre-1967 period described in the earlier Nursery Committee report.

The investigation of 1974-1979 shows that the institution no longer had work practices that generally restricted staff from providing care or otherwise limited their ability to meet individual children's needs.

However, certain aspects of the institution's operations remained inadequate. Night shifts appear to have been understaffed, considering the age and needs of the children at the nursery. There also seems to have been no professional process or diagnosis in place to meet the special needs of children, such as those who were disabled, older, from particularly difficult circumstances, or repeatedly placed. In some cases, children remained at the nursery for extremely long periods.

Children's outcomes examined in detail

The committee also examined the outcomes for the children who were placed at the nursery during this period. The report provides information on how many children were placed in other institutions and/or went into foster care. Additionally, it includes information on mortality and disability rates among the group.

More detailed information on the facts of the cases, the outcomes for the children, and the committee's recommendations can be found in the committee's report.