Esbjerg Municipality has placed the day care Børnehuset Novrupvej under heightened supervision for the third time in four years. The new measure was imposed in early 2026, only months after the municipality lifted a 13-month supervision.
Avisen Danmark reports that Børnehuset Novrupvej has been under skærpet tilsyn, or heightened supervision, three times in four years. The measure was used in 2022, again in 2024 and 2025, and once more in the first half of 2026.
Skærpet tilsyn is the municipal warning light that is switched on when a day care is judged to lack sufficient pedagogical quality. When Esbjerg Municipality ended the 13-month supervision in autumn 2025, its inspectors still had serious doubts about the handling of vulnerable children, staff competencies and the institution’s leadership.
Mette Lindkær, head of Børn & Pædagogik in Esbjerg Municipality, says the decision to lift the measure rested on an overall assessment of developments since 2024, which showed real improvements in pedagogical practice. According to her, a follow-up in January 2026 found that the improvements were not stable or jointly embedded, and a new skærpet tilsyn was launched.
At a dialogue meeting in October 2025, the day care’s leader, Daniel Rasmussen, was told the supervision was being lifted because quality had improved. In the same document, inspectors wrote that they still doubted whether vulnerable children were identified quickly enough, and warned that problems could escalate without the necessary pedagogical support.
The assessment of the leadership was sharper. Inspectors described it as a constant challenge to get agreed measures implemented, and noted that the leader started initiatives without always following them through. They also called it unusual to see two heightened supervisions within two years.
The same document stated that the leadership had viewed the supervision as bordering on harassment and had struggled to understand why the intervention was needed. Inspectors wrote directly that it was time to look inward. Rasmussen says earlier criticism of the supervision belongs to a larger context, and that the staff are fully competent and backed by the board and parents.
New observations in January 2026 again pointed to overlooked vulnerable children, missing adult support and an unaligned pedagogical practice. Those findings triggered the third skærpet tilsyn.
Unni Lind, docent and PhD at Københavns Professionshøjskole, calls both the conditions and the described cooperation worrying. She says three heightened supervisions in a few years is problematic for the children who are not seen, and points to the need for a longer-term action plan. Having read around 100 supervision reports in an earlier research project, she says the short gap suggests the municipality acted too quickly in ending the previous measure.
JydskeVestkysten reported on the case on August 10, 2026, including reactions from the day care’s board chair. Lindkær notes that the law requires heightened supervision when quality gives cause for concern, with no fixed duration.
