In 2021, the LVU campaign flared up in Sweden with criticism that, among other things, was that the social service’s handling of child and youth cases would be judicially unsafe.
474 social secretaries, in areas classified as vulnerable, have responded to a survey by the Association of Academics SSR. More than three quarters say that families they know have avoided contact with social services because of the LVU campaign.
Viktoriya Levin, chairperson of the union Vision in Gothenburg, lacks governance and wants clearer guidelines for how efforts should work.
– We cannot have only voluntary interventions and at the other end LVU, compulsory care and nothing in between, says Viktoriya Levin.
Even Birgitta Persdotter, lecturer in social work at Karlstad University, points out the organization of social services as problematic. Ahead of the new Social Services Act, which is expected to enter into force in July 2025, the discussions have been about dividing up the work, more like healthcare.
– You should be able to offer more interventions without an aid assessment and that the investigative work itself then becomes the second line of social services, says Birgitta Persdotter.
– As for the LVU campaign, there is no smoke without fire, says Nelly Teinenbaoum, first social secretary in Gothenburg.
– But I would say that the shortcomings in social services, which of course exist just like in other organizations, do not correspond to the pressure of that campaign.
The counterbalance to the disinformation that was spread came too late, Teinenbaoum believes. She is supported by Minister of Social Services Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M), who believes that the previous government was responsible.
Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S), vice chairman of the social committee, replies in an email that the previous government created, among other things, the Agency for Psychological Defense to counter harmful misinformation.
“The National Board of Health and Welfare was tasked with countering the spread of rumors and misinformation about social services, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried out work on several levels to counter the campaign.”