Kjersti Toppe

Kjersti Toppe (born 20 October 1967) is a Norwegian doctor and politician representing the Centre Party.

She has served as minister of children and families since 2021, and a member of parliament from Hordaland since 2009.

Prior to her election to parliament, Toppe served as the Centre Party's sole representative in the Bergen city council since 2001.

In parliament, Toppe was assigned to the position as deputy leader of the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services.

During the election campaign, healthcare was her main issue, and she pledged to work against closure of rural hospitals.

Toppe also served as the party's spokesperson for health policy.

Toppe was appointed minister of children and families on 14 October 2021 in the Støre Cabinet.

Following revelations that the Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation had not met with people who demanded compensation for injuries, Toppe expressed surprise of the compensation's actions, and said that she had at least expected them to meet with the people in question.

She did not rule out that their methods could revolve around income or people's finances.

She further that there will be a full review of the compensation's methods and did not rule out that it should be changed.

A father filed a complaint to the Norwegian Parliamentary Ombud regarding his loss of 67 days of his paid paternity leave because he had applied after the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration's deadline.

His complaint expressed that NAV had no legal authority to deprive him of the money.

The ombudsman supported him, but despite this, NAV didn't comply.

Toppe expressed support for NAV's judicial evaluation, commenting that the case was complicated.

She further stated that the ombudsman had reached a different conclusion then NAV and the Social Security Court, and that the ministry would stand behind NAV's conclusion.

More than 13 cases against Norway were brought up by the European Court of Human Rights regarding child neglect and breaches of human rights from the Norwegian Child Welfare Services.

On 26 November, Toppe expressed understanding.

She further remarked that the breaches of human rights were serious and unacceptable.

She also stressed that it was her responsibility to make sure that the Child Welfare Services upheld human rights obligations.

On 7 December, in a Teams meeting with the Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers, Toppe promised to have a look at turnover and incitement against Child Welfare Service workers.

She notably said: "I want to highlight the work you do and work to ensure that you feel safe and well at work".

After VG had been denied insight to documents from the Norwegian Child Welfare Services due to concerns to maintain their reputation; Toppe expressed concern that it could cause distrust in the Child Welfare Services.

She also said that the Services behaved "too locked", and also cited that concerns for reputation had never been used as an argument before.

She also mentioned that the Services should be more transparent and open to the public and provide more insight.

Toppe was her party's top nominee for Hordaland in the 2009 election and was elected to the Storting in September.

With a crisis help centre in Karasjok closed down in 2019, criticism has been pointed to the municipality for not having taken proper action to come with a better alternative.

Toppe added to this criticism in early March 2022, saying it was "unfortunate" for the municipality to send their own citizens to the closest centre in Hammerfest.

On 24 March, Toppe expressed that the government should consider three-part leave, having reservations about the scheme actually benefiting families with children and their needs.

Her concerns notably stemmed from the fact that many women now take a longer period of leave without pay and pensionable income.

In the wake of revelations by Aftenposten showing that mentally ill children wasn’t receiving necessary care and treatment by children’s welfare services, Toppe demanded an investigation into the matter, saying: "We must get an overview of the number of children in child welfare with serious mental illness. We need to know what we are doing with these children today and map out whether the regions believe there is failure around them".

On 16 June, Toppe unveiled the first ever logo marker notifying of changes to a person's appearance in advertisements.

Norway is also the first country to utilise such a logo.

A proposal for such a logo was first put forward in 2021, before now coming into effect.

On 20 June, Toppe received backlash due to her stance on surrogacy and the affects it has on society.

She compared it to human trafficking, expressed concerns for children to become orphans and that it should be punishable.

She later emphasised that it was only her personal opinion, and not the government's policy.

Her fellow minister, Anette Trettebergstuen, expressed disagreement with her, a sentiment also shared by Grunde Almeland of the Liberal Party and chair of the Standing Committee on Family and Cultural Affairs.

In August, after the Ombudsman for Children expressed that children between 15 and 18 should be able to consent to doping tests on their own accord, Toppe later confirmed that her ministry would be looking into the issue.

However, she did state that 15 to 18 year olds should have consent competence before consenting to a doping test.

She also remarked that the responsibility for changing doping test rules would fall under the Ministry of Culture.