Social support and services
Social services are provided by municipalities to their residents. Those services include financial assistance, support for disabled and senior citizens, support for people who suffer abuse and social counselling, to name a few.
Various social support
Municipal authorities are obliged to provide their residents with the necessary support to ensure that they can sustain themselves. A resident of the municipality is any person who is legally domiciled in the municipality, regardless of whether they are an Icelandic citizen or a foreign national. However, receiving financial support may affect your application for a residence permit or citizenship since you have to have a secure means of support (and financial support does not count).
Children and their families can receive a wide range of support from social and welfare services in their municipality. For example, due to social conditions, stress, illness, disability and violence. You can get social advice on finances, housing, parenting, divorce, custody and visitation issues, adoptions and more.
Co-operating after divorce is a resource for parents who want to improve communcation after going through a divorce, to ensure their children's welfare.
Most local authorities offer support to families who need more help, such as visiting services, help with housekeeping, connection with other service providers, for example school authorities and health institutions. These resources often go by various names but fall under the welfare services of each municipality.
Reykjavík
In Reykjavík there are 4 service centres for different parts of the city. To get counselling or support, you can make an appointment for an interview with a counsellor at your centre by phone or email. See the centres. You can also call the Reykjavík City phone service at 4111111 to get more information. It is open there from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.
Telephone
Accessibility
Good access for wheelchairs.Languages
Íslenska, English, polski. Language- and sign language interpretation.
Contact your service centre to get social support.
Foreign nationals have the same rights as Icelandic nationals to social services (if they are legally domiciled in the municipality). Anybody staying or intending to stay in Iceland for 6 months or longer must register their legal domicile in Iceland.
More information
Parental education
Raising a child is one of the most important and demanding challenges that parents deal with in life. Competence in parenting is however neither inherent nor does it come automatically; it takes time to acquire necessary knowledge.
