Lindøy is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the Byfjorden in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

municipality in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The island lies about northeast of the centre of the city of Stavanger. It sits in an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

surrounded by the islands of

Vassøy Vassøy is an island in Stavanger municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The island lies in the Storhaug borough, about northeast of the centre of the city of Stavanger in an archipelago. The islands of Roaldsøy, Bjørnøy, and Langøy ...

, Hellesøy, and Kalvøy. All of those islands are connected to the mainland only by boat.

Orphanage

The island was used as an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

for more than a hundred years, established by

Lars Oftedal Lars Oftedal (3 January 1877 – 19 April 1932) was a Norwegian attorney and newspaper editor. Biography Oftedal was born in Stavanger in Rogaland, Norway. He was the son of parish priest Lars Oftedal (1838–1900) and his wife Olava Ma ...

in the late 1800s. A local adage in Stavanger was that parents would tell their boisterous children to "beware, otherwise I will send to Lindøy!" The reason for the institution of Lindøy was priest and politician Lars Oftedal bought the large island in 1887. The following year opened the so-called ("Rescue Home and Educational Institution") which had space for 30 "perverse and depraved boys." This was not uncommon in Norway to open such institutions on isolated islands around the country, such as

Bastøy Bastøy is an unpopulated island in Horten municipality, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost p ...

and Ulvsnesøy. Originally, the island was used by the Waisenhuset orphanage in Stavanger and it was specifically for boys who were unfit to live there in the city. In 1896, the

Storting The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

passed the Child Welfare Act and this introduced the concept of a school. In 1900, the island was bought by the municipality and starting in 1907 there were two institutions on the island: the boarding school "Hope" on the north side in Nordvik and forced school "coercion" in Sørvik. "Hope" was the oldest, and would prove to be the longest running. To be sent to "coercion" was often caused by frequent truancy, while it was worse cases that were sent to "hope." This boarding school had room for 30 boys, while "coercion" had up to 12, and these businesses existed together until 1946. Guardian councils were abolished by the new Child Welfare Act of 1953 and these were replaced by child welfare Commissions. A boarding school home was then renamed as a "special school". The child welfare laws were revised again in 1995 and since then, Lindøy has been purely a home for residential care for youths 18 and younger. The center was planned shut down in 2010, but the decision was changed and the institution currently serves up to 6 youths.

References

Islands of Stavanger {{Rogaland-geo-stub

Orphanage

See also

References