The children were to be removed from their families as early as possible, so they did not get used to their parents’ way of life. They were to be placed in orphanages from the age of four to six, where they should remain until they were 10–12 years old. At that point, they were placed in foster homes.

The Mission established several orphanages. The first one was Askviknes orphanage in Os, outside Bergen, which began operating in the autumn of 1899. Around 1900, Lillegården orphanage in Eidanger, and Rostad orphanage in Inderøy were opened.

The Eilert Sundt orphanage opened at Eidsvoll in 1918, the Jacob Walnum orphanage in 1921, and Sørlandet’s orphanage opened at Greipstad near Kristiansand in 1929.

Children were sent to orphanages with or without parental consent. The guardian boards, roughly equivalent to today’s child protection services, were officially in charge of removing the children from their parents. This often took place at the Mission’s initiative. Children could be removed from their parents without a formal resolution, and the reason was often that the family did not have a permanent home. 

The Mission wanted the children, once removed from their biological parents, to have as little contact with them as possible. The children were told to keep their parents at a distance because they were “bad people”. Often the children were told that their parents were dead, or that they didn’t want to have anything to do with them. At the same time the Mission told the parents that the children were “well cared for” and that contact would make them uneasy. Letters between parents and children were often confiscated.

Many parents came to realise that what they had perceived as assistance from the Mission turned out to be a total loss of parental rights, and they never saw their children again.

As was often the situation at other orphanages, the children experienced neglect and assault or – at best – “only” a lack of love.