The investigation into Children and young people in society’s care is submitted on Monday about a number of proposals for improvements to the Minister of Social Services. The proposals are based on the shortcomings and problems that children and young people in community care experience.
Of those who have been placed for more than five years, almost a third have five or more placement opportunities. About 8 percent have as many as ten or more.
“Many relocations take place without the child or young person having been allowed to participate in the decision and unnecessarily urgent. We believe that the law needs to be changed to ensure that the attitude of children and young people is always obtained when deciding where the child or young person will live,” writes Ohlsson .
The investigator is calling for a reform of Swedish family home care where a permit will be required to be a family home. A national register must also be introduced to ensure that unsuitable family homes are not used again.
When it comes to the children and young people who have to be cared for in an institution, the quality of the care needs to be improved and the length of care needs to be as short as possible, writes Ohlsson.
“Given the risks that exist with institutional care, we believe that it should be clearly stated in the law that children and young people should only be placed in an institution when they cannot be cared for elsewhere.”