Children and young people within social services

Johan Hultberg (M)

Mr. Speaker! The Moderates are Sweden's children's rights party. I am proud that we, together with the other parties in the Tidö agreement, strengthen the rights and security of children and young people. The best interests of the child shall always be in focus, and children shall be independent rights-holders. This guides my work, the Moderates' work, and the government's work.

Mr. Speaker! I am also very proud that we have begun an important journey of change for the social services. It is a journey that actually concerns implementing a real paradigm shift. We are to strengthen the social services and give them better conditions to work in a knowledge-based and preventive manner.

To achieve this, it is fundamental to establish a new Social Services Act. That work is in full swing with the aim that we should have new legislation in place that enters into force on July 1 next year. New legislation must meet today's very difficult and complex societal challenges and problems. The challenges and problems that the social services face today differ enormously from the reality that prevailed in 1980, when large parts of today's legislation were established.

Today we are struggling with serious problems in the form of exclusion, segregation, and not least criminal gangs that constantly lure new children and young people into crime and which have a capacity for violence that they do not hesitate to use ruthlessly.

To crack the gangs, extensive crime-fighting measures are required, but equally important are long-term preventive efforts. That is, among other things, why the new Social Services Act is so important. The social services shall be given a clearer preventive mandate and be given better conditions to implement early interventions.

What is needed, above all, is more cooperation also between society's various actors and good forces. This needs to be facilitated through changed legislation where secrecy does not hinder necessary cooperation for the best interests of the individual child.

Mr. Speaker! A social service that is to work more preventatively and act, rather than react, means raised ambitions. It costs, my colleagues from the opposition would certainly have said if I had not managed to get ahead of them.

Yes, the government's increased ambitions for the social services have a cost. The government's increased ambitions regarding stopping the new recruitment to the criminal gangs and giving every child in Sweden a good start in life have a cost. Therefore, the government is making very large investments during the coming years. When it specifically concerns the social services, a historically large investment is being made. In total, the government is investing 8 billion during the coming years in a competence and staffing initiative. I am convinced that these investments will be very well-invested funds.

Mr. Speaker! As a Moderate, I emphasize the importance of not only providing more resources but always focusing on results and getting the greatest possible benefit out of every tax krona. Therefore, follow-up is important. We must be honest that the follow-up within the social services area today leaves a great deal to be desired, which also hinders development. The statistics within the social services need to be strengthened. Later this summer, an important investigation will submit proposals for a unified regulatory framework for social services data registers. A new social services data law is important to give the social services better conditions to work in a knowledge-based manner.

Mr. Speaker! What we know a great deal about is the enormous importance of parents for their children. All of us who are parents know how difficult the task can sometimes be. It is, and should not be, difficult or shameful as a parent to seek help and support. Therefore, the government's investment in parenting support is immensely important. We want parenting support of good quality to be available throughout the country. Targeted parenting support measures were also needed to prevent crime among children and young people.

To prevent crime - yes, all social problems - school is fundamentally important. In this debate, there is no time to speak about all the reforms that are now being made to strengthen Swedish schools, so I must content myself with highlighting the investment in school social teams. These teams, with staff from both school and social services, are important to increase safety and study environment in school and to increase students' school attendance. I believe the teams are also important for building trust and confidence, and this is absolutely crucial for social services' opportunities to realize the ambition to work more preventatively and early.

Mr. Speaker! Moving forward, we must politically prioritize early and preventive measures to a greater extent. At the same time, we must improve the quality of the measures concerning helping children and young people who have fallen into delinquency, who have become stuck in crime, or who are in need of society's support and care due to deficiencies in their parents' care.

We in the Social Affairs Committee, and we Moderates in particular, have for many years highlighted the deficiencies within Sis, the State Institutional Board. Therefore, I am pleased that Social Services Minister Camilla Waltersson Grönvall has now taken the initiative for a new start for state child and youth care. An inquiry has been commissioned with the aim of reforming this care. The quality of the care shall be raised, the care chains shall be strengthened, and safety shall be improved. The inquiry is important to achieve a long-term and lasting change.

To improve the situation here and now, the government is doing a number of things. Not least, Sis has received increased appropriations to, among other things, be able to work with differentiation and high quality of care.

To strengthen security within the agency, the government has also recently submitted a bill to the Riksdag regarding important legislative changes to restrict access to mobile phones and electronic communication. This is done, for example, to prevent the smuggling of narcotics and to hinder the planning of prison breaks. It is certainly remarkable and utterly deplorable that the previous Social Democratic government did not act earlier in this important matter but neglected the problems.

Mr. Speaker! I wish I had had time to speak about the government's investment in Bris and social reinforcement teams, about the work with lex Lilla hjärtat, and about many other important reforms for children and young people within social services, but I see that I have already exceeded my speaking time. I must content myself with stating that broad and extensive work is now being done to ensure that the best interests of the child are not just words spoken in formal speeches but something that characterizes all activities and all legislation.

With this, Mr. Speaker, I move for approval of the committee's proposal.

In this speech, Thomas Ragnarsson and Jesper Skalberg Karlsson (both M) agreed.

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Camilla Rinaldo Miller (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to begin by approving the committee's proposal and thereby rejecting all motions.

The goal of the Christian Democrats' social policy is to support small communities, families, and individuals in their self-sufficiency and good care, and to enable active participation in society. Social services therefore have a broad and fundamental task within the public sector.

The social services have the ultimate responsibility to ensure that people in the municipalities have it well, a roof over their heads, and food on the table. The mandate, however, goes further than that and is about providing social and economic security and working for good living conditions and participation in social life. This is particularly important when it concerns children and young people.

We Christian Democrats believe in the importance of small communities and the family, and we want to safeguard the security provided in the early years of children's and young people's childhood. Parents are those who can best take care of their children. At the same time, we see that many children are faring poorly, and there has been an increase in reports of concern to social services.

According to the Social Services Act, the social services' activities shall be based on respect for people's right to self-determination and privacy, and in measures concerning children, the child's best interests shall be particularly considered. The municipalities have an important task here in supporting the families and protecting the children.

Mr. Speaker! At the beginning of March this year, reports arrived that in recent years there has been a sharp increase in reports of concern regarding children and young people, which are also often believed to have connections to weapons and drug crimes. This is serious. In Sundsvall, SVT reported that social services have seen that the children are getting younger and that they are getting an earlier and faster "career" in criminal circles. Likewise, increases in reports of concern concerning children have been seen in Uppsala County and also in Skåne.

The importance of present parents who give children closeness and love, who train them in empathy, who raise them to follow laws and rules, who convey good values and who make children want to do right, do good and treat others with respect is crucial for us to create a safer Sweden.

Much is about ethics and morals, and it is about values and self-control. Here I mean that interventions for children and young people within social services play a large role and can play an even larger role today. It is indeed the early interventions aimed at both the children and the parents that are most effective in preventing crime.

Mr. Speaker! The Christian Democrats therefore welcome the investment that is now being made in parental support programs, which are being expanded in order to strengthen parental support, and the goal is that there shall be more of them and that they shall be present in all the country's municipalities. More open forms of support are established, for example, at family centers, which are being expanded. The Government sees a need for increased cooperation between maternal care centers, child health centers, childcare, and school, and not least we need to further develop the preventive work through more home visit programs within BVC in more parts of the country.

Targeted parenting support in groups for parents with deviant behavior needs to be prioritized because this support can play an important role in crime prevention work. Special parenting support programs adapted for fathers are needed. Naturally, family counseling is important and should be offered in all municipalities. The purpose is to resolve conflicts that otherwise risk leading to split families, with the suffering that this often entails for both children and adults.

Mr. Speaker! In cases where the family breaks down and the child's best interests justify that care and upbringing are provided outside the own home, it is the Christian Democrats' ambition that the child should, as far as possible, still grow up under home-like conditions. Therefore, it is important that we create the conditions needed for more foster homes while simultaneously strengthening the foster homes that exist so that breakdowns can be avoided and the children get the opportunity to stay in a home where they can have a secure upbringing. As a mother, I know how important it is that children grow up under secure conditions.

So, important work is ongoing within the government, and several proposals are now being suggested to strengthen the protection for children and young people in the society's care. The Christian Democrats support these initiatives and are influencing within the government so that the best interests of families and children shall be put in the forefront.

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Mona Olin (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Today we are debating SoU18 on children and young people within social services. We Sverigedemokrater stand by our statements and move for the approval of our reservation 13.

One can wish that all children have such a good and secure existence that they do not need support due to problems. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. This consideration spans many areas, and it is difficult to touch upon them all during a debate.

In measures involving children, it is crucial that the child's best interests are always taken into consideration. The primary mission of the social services is to ensure that well-balanced interventions, help, and support are provided to give vulnerable children a safe and secure upbringing environment.

The work to prevent unfavorable developments and reduce the risk of extensive social problems among children, young people, and families is of the utmost importance, even though its effects are often seen in society only much later. The goal is that every child shall have the opportunity to grow up under safe conditions and to promote the conditions for good living conditions. This includes actively working to counteract crime, substance abuse, and social exclusion, as well as detecting and protecting vulnerable children from violence and honor-related oppression. This is fundamental to creating a healthy and safe social environment for future generations.

Almost daily, new crimes are reported, and in most cases, both the victims and the perpetrators are young. Perpetrators commit horrific acts and victims are injured for life or even killed. Crime is moving further down in age. Children handle weapons. Innocent children and adults are affected when they end up in the eye of the storm, in the middle of the gangs' executions. The Sweden Democrats, together with the government parties in the Tidö agreement, have made a number of important decisions to address many of the problems that have arisen because other parties for far too long have turned a blind eye to reality and its serious problems.

A more accessible social service is crucial to be able to offer interventions to children and young people in a simpler way than today, especially for those who risk being drawn into crime. To meet this need, a transition to a more preventive social service is required. Interventions must be offered at an early stage, which means that the thresholds to the social service must be lowered.

Preparations for the introduction of a new Social Services Act have begun. The Sweden Democrats view positively that the government plans to submit a referral to the Council on Legislation during the late spring of 2024, and hopefully, a new Social Services Act can enter into force during 2025.

In April 2023, the government gave Skolverket and Socialstyrelsen a joint assignment to support school principals and social services in the establishment and organization of school social teams. The assignment also includes an evaluation of the initiative's effects. School social teams constitute a collaboration between the school and social services to promote students' opportunities to achieve educational goals, create a calm and safe school environment, and increase attendance in school.

I am pleased that the government, together with the Sweden Democrats, is developing several proposals that give the social services tools to prevent, to help the young people who need help, and to take care of those who need to find their way back to a good life. I am pleased that the social landscape is being steered back towards a safer everyday life where our parents, children, and grandchildren can move freely at any time of the day and, for example, take trains and buses without fear that something bad will happen. It feels good that the work with the change has begun.

Stable families are fundamental to society and constitute a necessary platform for children's growth and development. Within the family, we shape our basic skills and learn to manage relationships, solve problems, and handle conflicts. Parents have a crucial role in providing their children with love, security, and valuable life skills such as respect, empathy, and responsibility. It is also their responsibility to establish clear boundaries and rules for the children's well-being and development. To support families, society needs to offer resources and support for parenting and family life through various channels such as maternal care centers, child health centers, preschools and schools, healthcare, and social services.

I also want to advocate for digital tools for preventive measures. It is important to establish a national support to facilitate for the municipalities to use digital tools to increase accessibility to the social services and strengthen the preventive work. Through this, more people can receive support in managing life crises in a more effective way, which benefits not only the parents but also the children and society as a whole.

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Lina Nordquist (L)

Mr. Speaker! The children we are debating here today belong to our country's most vulnerable - and some of them our country's most dangerous. For their sake and for everyone's sake, we need a new Social Services Act with a clear preventive focus. There must be simple ways in and more follow-up than today. It is currently underway, and that makes me happy.

To some of these children, the state has said: "Now we are taking over the responsibility for your upbringing and for your future." In other words, we adults have an incredibly great responsibility for those children. But today, things are not going well for them. We elected representatives really need to ensure that they get their future secured.

Mr. Speaker! The State Institution Board has repeatedly received criticism for lack of leadership, governance, and legal certainty, and for deficiencies in the staff's conduct and conflict management. Sis has carried out extensive development work in recent years, but it has not been enough, and actually, it is not strange. Society is changing.

More young people are committing serious crimes today, and more children and young people have connections to criminal networks. Parallel to this, the need for care has increased significantly. The children can be very young and have a number of diagnoses. It requires more than what the authority Sis can do on its own. Therefore, the government has initiated work to reform the state child and youth care. Life should always become better when the community takes over - never worse.

Mr. Speaker! We want the differentiation to increase. No child should be caught in the crossfire because young people with different needs and different reasons for placement end up in the same home. In the long run, the most criminal individuals should not be placed at Sis at all, but rather in special youth prisons within the correctional services. In that way, the children who are placed according to LVU or the Social Services Act will be able to receive better focus and better opportunities. Similar measures are also being made for children at HVB so that every child receives security and help according to their specific needs.

Every employee at HVB and Sis should have knowledge, care, and the right tools. It is really no stranger than that. Violence, violations, and abuse must be prevented every day, around the clock. Weapons and drugs should not be able to enter Sis and HVB at all.

Mr. Speaker! Phones should of course be available for these children so that they can have contact with their loved ones and have secure relationships, but they must not enable perpetrators to gain access or allow perpetrators to continue committing abuse after the society has taken over responsibility. At HVB, an investigation is underway to ensure that the children become safer, for example through limited electronic communication, room inspections, and the removal of prohibited items. At the same time, improper coercive measures must disappear completely, Mr. Speaker. They should not be able to occur at all. Furthermore, the separations must be minimized. This list can be made very long.

Mr. Speaker! I naturally stand behind the committee's proposal. I also want to emphasize that Liberals across the country, together with us here at the national level, are working for more family centers and preventive measures regarding schools with school social teams. We are working for really good preventive measures on a broad front, as well as more foster homes for the children who need it.

These children have been betrayed for far too long by all of us, by the entire adult world, Mr. Speaker. The whole society needs to cooperate regarding children and young people who are doing poorly and regarding those who commit serious crimes and move in environments linked to organized crime.

Mr. Speaker! In summary: Many of these young people have gone through things that most of us adults can hardly imagine. Some have exposed others to great risks or harmed them. We now take our responsibility as adults in the Liberals. We will ensure that things go well for these children.

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Maj Karlsson (V)

Mr. Speaker! During my nearly ten years in the Riksdag, where children's vulnerability has been one of my prioritized issues, I have met many of those who are at the center of the debate ongoing about shootings and crime. I have met parents who have lost their children. I have met parents whose children have committed serious crimes. I have met young people who have lost their siblings or their best friends. I have met children and young people who have been left in the care of society to receive help but instead have been victimized. I have experienced firsthand the suffering that vulnerability entails.

At these meetings, I have received confirmation that poverty and vulnerability are almost always a factor for most, and that parents are often absent or violently present. Regardless of whether the affected family has social problems or not, it is more the rule than the exception that the children have confirmed or unconfirmed NPF diagnoses. But perhaps the most glaring red thread is that those I have met year after year have sought the society's support but, despite this, have not been helped.

Mr. Speaker! Instead of just blaming those who have been affected, the politics must take responsibility for years of failures and be ready with a clear focus on children's rights when society is needed. We must take our starting point in the structural challenges in order to then supplement with the specific measures. Here are some of our concrete proposals.

Firstly, we know that one of the primary causes of vulnerability is poverty. To repeatedly ignore the fact that the economic situation will have a strong impact on the conditions of both parents and children is a betrayal. Living in economic vulnerability, often in residential areas that have been politically neglected for decades, has consequences, not least for the children. We want the government to take responsibility for all children living in our country and appoint an action plan against child poverty. We therefore move for approval of reservation 24.

Secondly, men's violence against women is one of our society's greatest challenges. It is also the basis for the problems that many of the children suffer from. As long as children are affected by this torture, the violence will follow them further into life as traumas. We must therefore do everything in our power to counteract men's violence against women. The work must begin early and span across the entire society. We therefore want the government across the country to introduce the model "A municipality free from violence" or similar models that aim to change destructive norms and values.

Thirdly: If we are serious about wanting to prevent children's vulnerability, the cuts in welfare must cease immediately. If children and young people who break social norms and rules receive support as early as possible, the risk of serious problems later in life is reduced. This has been shown report after report. Despite this, the government chooses to invest in the opposite direction. Resources are allocated when crimes have already been committed, with harsher punishments, prisons for children, and visitation zones. But those who truly bear responsibility and can make a difference are getting less and less. The municipalities and regions are forced into cuts. In our budget motion, we fight against the cuts that the government is implementing. It is absolutely crucial to be able to offer the right help to our children.

For the fourth, accessibility and trust in the social services must increase. We believe that it must be prioritized that interventions and support for parents and children are provided early. That is how we can break destructive patterns and stop future suffering. But then we must design the support so that it is based on the family's needs and situation. For that, it is required that one actively works to increase trust, so that the parents themselves feel that they can seek help and feel security that they will receive help. It is also important that the social services receive a reduced amount of administrative tasks, so that the operations can be designed in a more open and accessible way. We want to see a first-line social service and an offering that meets families' needs in order to counteract children's suffering early. We also want to clarify the municipalities' mandate to expand preventive interventions, especially to reduce the number of placements of children and young people.

Last but not least, school has a decisive importance for all children's future, and this applies to the highest degree also to placed children. Low education levels increase the risk of ill health, substance abuse, crime, and suicide. For Vänsterpartiet, children's and young people's right to a coherent schooling is a matter of equality. This is where the effort must be focused. In order not to risk that the children who have the greatest needs should fall between the organizational chairs of social services and school, we want to see a coherent support. We want to develop a model for further increased cooperation with multi-professional teams. A team could consist of, for example, special educators, family therapists, and social workers and have as its mission that the student should increase their participation in the teaching and reach the knowledge goals, but also that the student's and the whole family's mental and physical well-being should be improved.

Mr. Speaker! Just a few years ago, we ensured that the Convention on the Rights of the Child became Swedish law. We did that because we believe that children have explicit rights and should be given extra opportunities, and that this applies to all children. It is a strong commitment that we cannot back down from just because emotions take over. But that is what I fear is happening right now – that the government wants to show strong muscles at the expense of children's rights. Putting children in prison, for example, does not seem to align with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

We instead offer the government all our knowledge, supported by research, and propose measures that have a real effect. We want to provide the opportunity to prevent the enormous suffering that children are currently experiencing. We want effective preventive work that makes children and relatives as well as society winners. That is to truly be a children's rights party.

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Martina Johansson (C)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to begin by moving for approval of reservation number 11, but I naturally stand behind the other reservations from Centerpartiet.

Children and young people within social services is a large and important area. It is about support and advice to families, children and young people throughout life. Much is done in a good way all over the country when it comes to early interventions and being able to provide support to the young person, whether it concerns their own behavior or the parents' lack of care. But I lack a holistic view. I think the government acts reactively instead of proactively in all situations.

There are many good proposals and many good decisions that we have jointly made in the chamber to improve. Often we hear a reference to the fact that a new Social Services Act will soon arrive which is to require evidence-based methods and be a good solution to many issues. It absolutely will be. That is I am quite convinced of.

But do we have to wait for new legislation? Is it not the case that the government, for example, could ask its agency Socialstyrelsen to focus on research, choice of methods, and their implementation in operations already today? Or is it supposed to be that 290 municipalities shall conduct research and choose methods themselves? That is not quite how it works in healthcare.

Mr. Speaker! Here I ask: Where is the leadership, and where is the will to follow up on the effects of the decisions we make? Does it make a difference for the individual child or the young person? Are the measures we make decisions about perceived as making a difference for the real children, whom we speak about in this chamber?

In healthcare, there are quality registers where one sheds light on various questions. The aim is to ensure that the treatments and methods yield the effects that are requested. The equivalent does not exist when it comes to measures for children and young people. We could introduce it regardless of whether a new Social Services Act is introduced or not.

But there is an area where the government has only woken up a few weeks ago. It has been tasked to review the entire social worker education and not just the small part concerning preventive work. The Center Party has motioned for and proposed it for quite many years. I welcome that this is now to take place.

I am quite convinced that children and young people need collaborators in the social services who have competence and experience in, above all, talking with children and young people to hear and understand what is said, but also to be able to see beyond the words that come from the parents.

Social services employees also need more tools both to be able to make clear decisions and describe what those clear decisions are that they make, but also for how they conduct risk assessments.

It is very important for the child that it is clear. What is the reason, for example, why it is relocated or placed outside the home? It is also important for the parents to understand why it happens.

It is also needed so that requirements can be set. What must change for the placement to cease? Within what timeframe are we talking about it happening? It creates a sense of security for everyone involved - for the child, the biological parents, and the potential foster parents.

The child should not have to feel fear of having to move back to parents who may be abusing substances. But it must also be clear for the parents. It is a security to understand what it is that needs to change and over what period of time.

Mr. Speaker! Children have the right to be heard, and children have the right to receive support. We often speak in this chamber, and the government also often speaks, about the Convention on the Rights of the Child and children's rights. What is it that the children are actually saying? What is it that the children experience?

We have the State Institution Board which has received a great deal of and strong criticism. It has been harshly criticized by the Center Party but also by the government parties both during the previous parliamentary term and during this parliamentary term.

Still, we do not get the follow-up on whether it actually makes a difference for the individual children. Instead, we receive reports from other organizations. Among others, Barnrättsbyrån has previously delivered reports showing the violence and sexual vulnerability that some girls are exposed to. This is something that we must become much better at following up on.

Now we are going to investigate Sis organization. But what do we do on the way until the investigation is complete? These children and young people, the girls and boys, are there even while the government is investigating. It is here we must turn on the light to create safety and to follow up on the quality requirements.

I will return to the children's right to be heard and their support. I have previously been in agreement with the government parties on the importance of that. There is a proposal on the government's table. It concerns, among other things, children's opportunities to, for example, obtain independent counsel at Sis with the help of civil society.

That proposal has been on the government's table for seven months, but nothing has happened. One might think it is not that long a time. It usually takes a bit longer. But this is about building children's rights.

One can compare it with, for example, the introduction of visitation zones, which is about tearing down rights for children. In that case, the government can act within three months from proposal to decision.

For me, it is about the government not prioritizing children's rights when it takes so long to build children's rights compared to how long it takes to demolish children's rights.

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Ulrika Westerlund (MP)

Mr. Speaker! The situation of children and young people is an area that engages many of us. We notice that here today, just as in many previous debates on that issue. Much has also been done in the area during recent years.

I want to begin my speech here today by focusing on an area that I often feel comes a bit into the shadows in the debate, namely children as independent rights holders. Several inquiries have submitted reports with important proposals in this area during the past year, and I want to draw attention to some of them.

The investigation report Improved opportunities for children to assert their rights according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, SOU 2023:40, contained several proposals to strengthen children's opportunities to complain and appeal decisions concerning them. The children for whom authorities and courts make decisions often lack guardians who can represent their interests and ensure their rights. In those cases, it is particularly important that children have the right and practical opportunity to complain in cases of rights violations.

The investigation has proposed that children should be given the opportunity to appeal decisions on placements according to LVU and that children, regardless of age, should be given the right to a public counsel when appealing decisions on special powers issued by the State Institutions Board, Sis. Both of these proposals would strengthen children as rights holders in a very concrete way.

The investigation also proposes that independent children's ombudsmen and children's rights bureaus should be established. Such types of civil society organizations already exist today. However, it is required that the state takes responsibility to ensure that independent children's ombudsmen exist across the entire country and have long-term conditions. The investigation therefore proposes that the state shall finance, regulate, and in other ways contribute to ensuring that the children's rights bureaus develop and function in the best possible way. Establishing and strengthening these organizations would contribute positively to children's situation in Sweden.

In cases where children's rights are not met in Sweden, there must be opportunities to demand those rights through international instances. The investigation has therefore proposed that Sweden ratifies the third optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which would give children the right to submit complaints to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in cases of rights violations. It would be a very important step forward.

Miljöpartiet proposes, in addition to the commission's proposals, that the Children's Ombudsman's mandate should be expanded so that the ombudsman can pursue principally important cases concerning individual individuals. The Children's Ombudsman currently has no such mandate, which distinguishes this ombudsman from the Equality Ombudsman. Giving BO the opportunity would also strengthen children as rights-holders and provide important legal guidance in the form of judgments in areas that may currently be untested.

I also want to mention the investigation report A childhood free from violence, SOU 2022:70, which proposes a coordinated ten-year strategy to strengthen the work of authorities and organizations to stop violence against children and give those affected by violence the right to support and treatment, and the investigation report Safer homes for children, SOU 2022:71, which provides several proposals to strengthen placed children's right to a safe upbringing. Placed children are among the most vulnerable in our society. Society's intervention in the form of placement must not make the children's situation worse.

In addition to the proposals submitted in among others SOU 2022:70 and 2022:71, we believe that a child's right to a representative should be broadened so that a representative can, and shall, be appointed during an investigation into the transfer of custody in all matters of custody and access, both in cases of authority decisions and in civil law disputes. This would significantly strengthen children as rights holders and in a concrete way ensure that the children's best interests are always put first, also in cases where the children's guardians are unable to ensure this.

Mr. Speaker! Young people who are in social care today run the risk of being left without help when they turn 18 and reach the age of majority. The organization SOS Barnbyar has engaged in the issue and is driving several changes that we find relevant and which would contribute positively to the opportunities to establish oneself in society for young people who have left social care.

Young people leaving social care are a vulnerable group and more vulnerable compared to peers without experience of social placement. The target group is forced to become an adult earlier in life and in a shorter period. At the same time, these young people must manage the overwhelming process with significantly less support from family, friends, and networks compared to peers. Research also clearly shows that young people who have been socially placed run a higher risk of homelessness, unemployment, lack of ability to support themselves, physical and mental problems, and contact with the criminal justice system.

There are therefore strong reasons to strengthen the protection for young people leaving social services and to make it more equitable regardless of where in the country the young people live. The Social Services Act must be clarified and aftercare defined. The period during which a young person, according to the Social Services Act, has the right to support should be extended to up to 25 years.

In this context, I also, of course, want to mention Carina Ohlsson's investigation report *For children and young people in social care*, SOU 2023:66, which contains many good proposals in this area that I hope we will have the opportunity to debate at a later time.

Mr. Speaker! Lastly, I would like to say something about child poverty. Miljöpartiet proposes that the government allows a crisis commission against child poverty to be appointed. The commission shall proceed from a children's rights perspective and address both the safety systems and compensatory measures directed specifically at children. The government should take measures in accordance with this.

I support all of the Green Party's reservations but move for approval only of reservation 22.

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Laila Naraghi (S)

Mr. Speaker! Recently, Save the Children presented a survey showing that seven out of eight parliamentary parties believe that an investigation needs to be commissioned to review the possibility for children to have their own representative in processes concerning their custody, housing, and visitation. Together, the members of these seven parties correspond to a substantial majority here in the chamber: 281 out of 349.

Several investigators and authorities have conveyed the same thing. This concerns, for example, Fredrik Malmberg from the Institute for Human Rights, who was also the government's investigator for A childhood free from violence.

It also concerns the Children's Ombudsman, who has expressed themselves as follows: "The child shall be protected in the legal process and not from the process. The child shall be protected in the court and not from the court." The Children's Ombudsman has also suggested that the child should be given their own counsel in the process, solely for the child's advocacy.

Mr. Speaker, you may wonder why I am participating in this debate and in the Committee on Social Affairs regarding an issue concerning children's custody, residence, and access. This is a matter that belongs in the Committee on Civil Affairs, where I work. The answer is that a motion on this is found in this very report, while we in the Committee on Civil Affairs are processing similar motions. I will return to this, but first I want to focus on the issue itself.

Mr. Speaker! Researchers, experts, civil society and authorities, as well as government inquiries, have identified deficiencies in how children's rights are met in processes regarding their custody, residence and access. Several agency reports have shown major deficiencies. This concerns, among other things, the courts' deficient risk assessments regarding violence and that children's stories and opinions are rarely raised and given significance.

Several state public inquiries have also raised this, for example the Convention on the Rights of the Child Inquiry and most recently the inquiry Children's opportunities to demand their rights. It presented the following to the government: "The question of the right to speak and legal counsel for children in cases regarding custody, residence, and visitation is such a comprehensive and complex issue that it is not possible to submit concrete proposals within the framework of this inquiry. The question should therefore be further investigated."

Mr. Speaker! Fundamentally, this is about children's rights. Children have the right to counsel, a special representative, in criminal proceedings. Children have the right to counsel, a public advocate, in administrative proceedings. It does not seem logical that children should not have their own counsel in civil proceedings concerning their entire lives – their custody, residence, and visitation.

Today's procedural arrangement means that when questions of violence are to be assessed in criminal cases and administrative cases, the child has the right to their own counsel. But when questions of violence in the family are to be assessed, the child has no one to speak on their behalf. I hope and believe that everyone in the chamber can agree that this constitutes an inconsistency for children in general and for children subjected to violence in particular. This inconsistency is not in the best interests of the children, and it is not worthy of a rule-of-law society. The child's right to counsel in these processes has also been raised by the Lex Tintin association, which has met several of us here in the Riksdag.

Mr. Speaker! We Social Democrats want to see an investigation into children's right to a representative even in civil law proceedings concerning their custody, residence, and visitation. Other parties also raise this. This includes, among others, the Center Party, with whom we Social Democrats recently had an interpellation debate with the Minister for Justice.

In the committee motion Child-Friendly Family Law by Mikael Eskilandersson with several others, the Sweden Democrats (SD) write under the heading Family Mediation for the Child's Best Interest in Separations and Custody Disputes the following: "According to the law, the focus should be on the children's best interests. Despite this, it is the parents' interests that are taken into account today through legal representatives, and it is primarily from the parents' perspective that custody is discussed and solutions are presented." The motion also states the following: "Through a special representative for the child, the child's interests can be better met than is the case today."

In the SD motion, there is also a request that the Riksdag should stand behind what is stated in the motion regarding investigating how a specific support person should be appointed for the child at the latest in connection with a family mediation.

Mr. Speaker! It is therefore not only a survey from Save the Children that shows that a majority here in the chamber thinks that an investigation should be appointed. There are de facto also motions from a majority in the chamber in favor of an investigation on a representative or a support person for children in civil law proceedings.

The crux is simply that these motions from a majority in the chamber are not being treated in the same committee and report. The Social Democrats' motion for an investigation, as well as the Center Party's and the Green Party's, are being treated in the Civil Affairs Committee. SD's motion, however, is being treated in the Social Affairs Committee and in this report, even though, according to the motion, it concerns custody disputes—i.e., civil law.

Mr. Speaker! In the just-mentioned interpellation debate with the Minister for Justice regarding children's right to a representative in custody cases, which we Social Democrats had together with the Center Party, SD also signed up to participate. The member was then clear and said: "I want to emphasize something of great importance, namely that children are given a representative who follows them throughout the entire process and is not replaced in the vulnerable situation that the child is in."

The party also asked us if we were prepared to cooperate in "this important issue of children being entitled to their own representative in these types of disputes".

Soon we in the Committee on Civil Affairs will reach a decision on the report where the question of children's right to counsel in these civil law cases is addressed. I assume that all parties will put their actions into their words here in the chamber, that is, vote as they have expressed themselves. This also applies to SD, which in its committee motion, in its words in this chamber this week, and in its promise to Rädda Barnen has spoken for exactly this: children's right to counsel. I hope that SD does not intend to hide behind formal arguments that your motion was placed in another committee, in the Social Affairs Committee's report 18, or similar paper exercises. It would not be worthy.

Mr. Speaker! The Liberal Party leader Johan Pehrson wrote as follows before the election in a parliamentary motion: "In connection with custody disputes, the child should have the right to its own representative who acts on its behalf."

The Christian Democrats also gave the issue a prominent place at their national convention before Christmas. In a motion response regarding this issue, party leader and Minister for Enterprise Ebba Busch and her entire party board state that KD already today advocates that children's rights should be strengthened and that children in custody disputes shall be entitled to a legal representative. And in the very core document of the national convention, the family policy proposition, KD decided that children shall have the right to their own representative in a custody dispute.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker: The Riksdag has a majority for this, among the parties and in the motions. Many parties have been very clear. I hope that it will also be visible in committee, adjustment, and then voting shortly. It would be a poor grade if this falls on pure and simple formalities, because it fell between the cracks.

Can we ensure that we agree on a decision regarding this investigation so that children also receive the right to a representative in these processes?

(Applause)

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Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to begin by moving to approve reservation 10.

Children and young people within social services is perhaps the absolute most important issue we have to debate here in the chamber. Children have a right to a secure upbringing. Children's opportunities, regardless of circumstances, to grow up under good conditions and become a part of our society is perhaps politics' most important mission.

For us Social Democrats, it is therefore important with the preventive work. Today, there is a lot of talk about crime prevention work, and there are good reasons for that. But preventive work must never only be about reducing the risk of crime. Preventive work also needs to be about the broad work to reduce risk factors and build protective factors in general. To enable this, schools, social services, and the police need to be given clear and correct conditions to cooperate regarding children and young people and their circumstances.

Mr. Speaker! We also need to be there as a society when things go wrong. When we have a government with coalition partners who push for younger and younger people to be imprisoned, when imprisonment becomes a crime-preventive measure, there is a risk that we are heading towards an even darker future. In the eagerness to lock up, to put people in quarantine from society, we often lose sight of the individuals and the care that very many need if they are to have a chance of returning to society - and that must be the common ambition of politics.

Not least among the younger, among those sentenced to closed juvenile care, our care needs to be given more space. It deserves to be better.

Preventing recidivism is the youth care's most important task. In that case, the authorities also need to receive reasonable resources and directives that put the care in focus. Our Sis-minister, however, spends more time complaining about previous governments than delivering anything themselves. Sure, a large investigation into the authority's future is to be launched, but otherwise, they mostly tinker with details in things that previous governments have investigated.

Now clear measures are needed. Now clear steering is needed - such as banning solitary work in client-facing contacts at Sis institutions, a measure that secures the situation both for those who live in the home and for those who work there.

But more than words about confidentiality-breaking measures to prevent crime are also needed. Often, it is not the law but the trust and cooperation between organizations that need to be developed. More reforms are needed here. It is high time to demand that reports of concern be searchable even if they have not led to further investigation. And where is the new Social Services Act? It needs to be in place so that we can take the important steps we have ahead of us.

(Applause)

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Johan Hultberg (M)

Mr. Speaker! Now there have been several debates here without any replies, so I thought it was high time to have a debate in the true sense of the word.

I note that we now have a Minister for Social Services in Sweden, a minister who has a special responsibility to truly work on implementing the paradigm shift that I described in my speech: from a social service that has been far too reactive to one that is much more proactive and preventive and makes early interventions. A new Social Services Act will finally be coming; it should have arrived a long time ago. Unfortunately, the previous government did not deliver on that. It was also an investigation that did not have the ambition to raise the ambitions, but which in its directives stated that it must not cost more.

As I pointed out in my speech, increased ambitions for the social services mean working more preventatively. Therefore, further investigation work has been required within the Government Offices so that the government can soon present a proposition on an important new social services act.

Mr. Speaker! The reason I requested a reply concerned Sis, however. This is an agency that has been plagued by enormous problems for many years. We have recounted this in the Social Affairs Committee. From right to left, we have been on those problems. We have repeatedly called the Director-General to the committee and asked critical questions. We have called for political action.

The previous government did extremely little on that issue. It is frankly distressing that Member Lundh Sammeli is now trying to claim that this government is not acting. Yes, that is exactly what it is doing. We have commissioned a large investigation on taking a proper grip on the entire state child and youth care. That is what is important in the long term. But we are also doing very much, Mr. Speaker, here and now. Not least, we are giving Sis budget appropriations to be able to increase security and work with quality-enhancing measures, differentiation, and so on. I also mentioned the important reform that has now finally landed on the Riksdag's table regarding limiting access to electronic means of communication.

My government delivers. The Social Democrats are solely responsible for why nothing was done for eight years to resolve the serious problems that exist within Sis.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Mr. Speaker! The similarity between the Minister for Social Services and Member of Parliament Hultberg is well the conviction that this government is delivering and that all shortcomings are due to previous governments.

It is not only words that have meaning, however. The question is what the government will actually deliver. So far, it has been very little. Some of the things that Member Hultberg raises, for example the limitation of electronic communication within Sis, are great. All parties agree. It is work that previous governments have done.

When it comes to the Sis-homes, it is definitely a task that has been ongoing for a long time. During the previous years, we have always met the authority's needs for money. The government has done a deliberate job to ensure an increased quality, a job where we have increased the security and now work completely differently.

I am fully aware that Sis is an issue that the committee has worked on for a long time. I believe that we will also work on it for a long time ahead. Even though juvenile prisons sound like a powerful measure, it is only a small part of all the children and young people who are currently within Sis who are affected by that legislation. We therefore need to continue to carry on that work.

In the beginning of Member Hultberg's speech, he spoke about the Riksdag's most child-friendly party. The Moderates were indeed one of the parties that did not vote yes to the Convention on the Rights of the Child becoming law. But it is welcome that children's issues are now on the agenda and that we can undertake important work moving forward for children's rights, as they need to be strengthened.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Johan Hultberg (M)

Mr. Speaker! The problem with the previous Social Democratic government was that they were so focused on the rhetoric, on being able to highlight that now we are making the Convention on the Rights of the Child into law, but then they did not do the necessary homework. They did not ensure that the truly important changes were made in the more detailed legislation that are necessary to ensure that the best interests of the child will not just become something highlighted in solemn speeches, but will actually play a role in reality.

They did not do the homework with the Lex Lilla hjärtat. Had the child's best interests been governing in the legislation, I believe that "Lilla hjärtat", little Esmeralda, would have lived today.

It is therefore important to make these changes in the actual legislation. And speaking of "lex Lilla hjärtat", I am proud that we will now proceed with the fact that one should be able to demand mandatory drug tests for parents who may have lost custody of their children for a period to ensure that if a child is to move back to that environment, the home must be drug-free.

Mr. Speaker! Back to Sis. I know we agree that it will be required that we do an incredible amount to address the fundamental problem, namely that there are so many children and young people who need a placement at Sis today. We must reverse that. Therefore, the broad, preventive work is completely central. Therefore, it is important that we can also achieve higher quality in other, earlier interventions - placement in HVB homes and other things that do not take place within the framework of the state. There, we have appointed a national coordinator for social child and youth care. We are conducting a review of HVB care, how it can be differentiated and how we can increase safety and security there as well.

When it comes specifically to Sis, I mentioned that we have added increased resources. We have now finally received the bill on the Riksdag's table regarding mobile phones and electronic means of communication. We are making the reform of youth prisons to narrow Sis's mandate so that better conditions are created to also meet, for example, the young girls with mental ill-health.

I and Camilla Waltersson Grönvall are in complete agreement - this government delivers.

(Applause)

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Fredrik Lundh Sammeli (S)

Mr. Speaker! I think that the evaluation of this government will be done by the 2026 election at the latest, and if the pace is not increased and more concrete legislation begins to be delivered to the Riksdag, I believe the grade will be a fail, even if this is a government with a designated social services minister.

It is not the case that the Social Committee's area has improved with four ministers at the department. Very many are pointing out that the demarcation seems to make it so that the ministers do not quite dare to take responsibility for the entire area. The fear of entering someone else's area hampers social policy, and one must well consider how to bridge that.

I am completely convinced that it was important to get the Convention on the Rights of the Child in place as law and to begin work on improving youth care. It needs to continue.

It is important that the new Social Services Act actually arrives. Our ambition was to deliver it in the spring of 2023. We shall see if it is now so radically changed that it justifies the delay from the spring of 2023 to, at best, the autumn of 2024.

When it comes to "Lilla hjärtat", I think it is strange that one stands here and says that nothing has been done when the Riksdag has adopted the entire legislation on "Lilla hjärtat" and there are two new laws that the committee has handled.

Then there is more to do, and the government has pointed out what it wants to do moving forward. But I am completely convinced that a broad political commitment in these issues and a perseverance is required, because that is what this area really needs.

(Applause)

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(Decisions were made under § 14.)

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