The social services in Älvsbyn municipality broke the law several times when they took care of Erica and Jörgen’s three children, an external investigation shows.
Cold facts can now reveal that several case managers were not authorized to work on several issues in the case.
– I think it’s terrible, says Harriet Rickman, former head of individual and family care.
Social services in Älvsbyn have had major shortcomings in recent years. Cold facts have previously told about the parents Erica and Jörgen, who were deprived of their three children for three years.
During the care, the municipality’s administrators broke laws, acted untruthfully and had major knowledge gaps, according to an external investigation.
Five case managers have been suspended and are under investigation. Cold facts have been confirmed that three of the case managers are not authorized to work with this type of exercise of authority.
– They don’t have degrees in sociology or equivalent education, says Harriet Rickman, who was the supervisors’ immediate supervisor.
Rickman has been acting director since last spring. Her temporary employment has just expired. She says that already when she took office, she saw shortcomings and knowledge gaps in the case managers.
According to Rickman, three of the caseworkers do not have the correct training, which is required by law to be authorized to handle authority decisions about children, for example LVU cases.
– You need to know what you are doing when dealing with cases like this. We in social services do not have only one law to deal with. We have a plethora of laws that we have to deal with in parallel. You need to have a lot of knowledge about that, says Harriet Rickman.
Former manager under investigation
Cold facts can also tell you that the former head of individual and family care is also being investigated. She was the manager during most of the time that Erica and Jörgen’s children were taken care of.
It is unclear whether she even had the authority to handle children’s cases, during the time she was head of individual and family care.
Cold facts have sought the former manager, who does not want to answer any questions.
Mayor: I don’t know
Municipal manager Anna Lindberg does not want to attend a physical interview. Over the phone, she replies that she does not know whether the administrators had authorization or not.
– I first want to take part in the labor law investigation. I cannot answer whether they have had competence or not, she says.