Limitations and control regarding electronic communication services and visits to special youth homes

Mona Olin (SD)

Madam Speaker! Today we are debating SoU25 Restrictions and control regarding electronic communication services and visits to special youth homes.

Today, young people with socially destructive behavior are locked up with serious criminals. The State Board of Institutions Sis is the state agency responsible for individually tailored compulsory care. There, young people with serious psychosocial problems and young adults with substance abuse problems are treated.

At the end of the 1990s, the mandate for the operation was expanded to also receive youths sentenced to closed juvenile care for serious crimes. It is thus a large variation of youths staying at the Sis-homes in terms of both age and reason, which means that the right personnel and competence within the operation and the departments are fundamental to achieving a well-functioning operation.

For the Sweden Democrats, it is obvious that young people with serious psychosocial problems should not be locked up with serious criminals. The seriously criminal youths should instead be handled by the Prison and Probation Service, whose conditions for handling such youths should be significantly better. In this way, Sis can also place a greater focus on care and treatment, which in turn means that more places are freed up in the already overburdened operation.

The parties' work on the issue has resulted in a new bill that we are debating here today. The new legislative changes mean that Sis shall divide its special youth homes into different security levels.

Youth who, according to Section 3 of the Act on Special Provisions on the Care of Young People, are cared for in a special youth home with an increased security level or who serve closed youth care according to the Act on the Execution of Closed Youth Care shall only be allowed to use electronic communication services to have contact with another person. This communication will only be permitted with equipment that is either provided or approved by Sis and only to the extent that it is considered appropriate.

Sis will also be granted increased powers within special youth homes to decide on further restrictions and control of the use of electronic communication services. Furthermore, Sis shall have the opportunity for these homes to make decisions on restrictions and control of visits. In order to visit a youth, it may be required that the visitor undergoes a body search, if security reasons justify this. If necessary, Sis will also investigate whether the person the child or the young person wishes to have contact with or receive a visit from is convicted or suspected of a crime.

Elisabet Åbjörnsson Hollmark is the Director General of Sis, and she welcomes the new bill which, among other things, gives Sis expanded opportunities to monitor visits and to restrict electronic communication services. She believes that this will make a big difference in the security work at Sis homes.

An investigation has been commissioned in order to review and reform the mandate and organization of the state's child and youth care. It is to be reported on April 25 next year. It will, one can assume, be a major work of change that will take a long time. Therefore, I am pleased that a law is coming that allows the safety at the Sis homes to be improved already now, until the investigation is complete.

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

Karin Sundin (S)

Madam Speaker! Limitations and control of special youth homes - we recognize the heading for this debate. We have been talking about more measures for a long time now, and we will continue to talk about it after today's debate and today's decision.

At the youth home of the State Institution Board (Statens institutionsstyrelse), young people who during their upbringing have been subjected to poor conditions, violations, injustices, threats, violence, and abuse live and receive treatment. Many of these young people have in turn themselves committed injustices – threatened and harmed themselves or others – or been drawn in and exploited by criminal networks. Some have already, despite their young age, many years of substance abuse behind them. It is also now well-documented that many children and young people within Sis have neuropsychiatric functional impairments, often in combination with substance abuse problems.

As a society, we have judged that these young people need to be taken into care due to circumstances in their home environment or because of things they have done. For some, it is nevertheless the first time they are far from their families and their previous points of security in life, while for others there may be no security at all in life.

My point in raising this is that we must be clear that what we are talking about today – to limit access to communication with the outside world and to limit access to visits to Sis – concerns measures aimed at an already vulnerable and quite heterogeneous group. We must be cautious when we introduce new restrictions and stricter rules, even when it is crystal clear that such restrictions are needed.

Madam Speaker! Together with the trade union Seko, I visited Sis youth home Bergsmansgården in Fjugesta on Monday. It was a visit that was planned long before I knew that I would be standing here today. I stepped in on short notice. With today's debate in mind, it is interesting that among the first things the staff at Bergsmansgården told me was that they will get new opportunities to do a good job on May 15. For the staff, it was crystal clear that the new limitations were needed, and they stand ready and waiting.

I note that a large part of the political debate is about protecting society from the criminal boys at Sis. This also largely applies to the legislation we are discussing here today. Gang criminal boys at Sis shall not be able to use their phones to plan how they will escape. They shall not be able to bring in weapons or drugs to Sis, and they shall not be able to coordinate and plan continued criminal activity at Sis. Of course, they shall not be able to do that.

The sister home Bergsmansgården, which I visited, is a home for girls in their upper teens. With this visit in mind, it is clear that girls are often forgotten, even though we have taken part in mappings that show that girls are a larger and more active part of criminal gangs than we previously thought.

The staff at Bergsmansgården reminded me that these girls need to be protected both from their surroundings and from themselves. They told me how girls at Sis-hem today can sell themselves through the phone's webcam and Swish. These girls can be exploited by a former perpetrator and by new ones.

That is why today's proposal is immensely important. It is about protecting young people from their surroundings and from themselves, while at the same time we cannot deprive them of contact with the outside world or their family.

We also know through recurring reports and information that the youths at Sis-homes tragically need to be protected even from the staff working within Sis. The organizations Childhood and Barnrättsbyrån report over 200 cases of some form of sexual violence or violation at Sis-homes during the period between January 2019 and May 2022. It is completely unacceptable that youths who have been placed under the protection of society are subjected to abuse from precisely those who are tasked with protecting them. So, we simply cannot have that.

One way to avoid this is to ensure that Sis employees are not left alone with these youths, that is, with their clients. This has been pointed out by Ivo, and we Social Democrats have submitted a motion for double staffing in all client-facing contacts at Sis homes. It is a way to protect children and young people.

It is also a way to protect staff who, if left alone with the clients, can be exposed to both threats and violence - and furthermore be falsely accused of having committed abuses that they have not committed. The staff turnover at Sis is also high, and many employees are young without the long experience they would need for their profession. They need support from their colleagues. Good staffing provides a better working environment for everyone.

It is on the issue of staffing that the Social Democrats have a dissenting opinion in the committee report. We want the requirement for double staffing to also apply during the search of visitors. In the proposal we have on the table, it states that body searches "if possible" shall be carried out in the presence of a person other than the one performing the search. Given how the situation looks at Sis, we Social Democrats fear that the wording provides room for double staffing to become an exception and not a rule.

With this, we open up for new problems linked to Sis. Also, the person who is to visit a relative at a Sis home is, in fact, in a position of dependency on Sis. Even for the visitor to a Sis home, the visitation is a potential violation of their own integrity. It is a vulnerable situation where one submits oneself for the sake of the security being able to be maintained for the residents one is visiting.

The staff who are to search a visitor can also end up in a vulnerable situation if they are left alone during the searches. For example, threats may come from a visitor who is trying to smuggle something in. Threats of violence against the employee or any of the employee's relatives involve a risk that the employee feels forced to let through something that should not be let through.

That is why we Social Democrats hold firm to our principle that double staffing shall be the rule at Sis also during searches of visitors. More people witnessing what takes place creates an opportunity to understand what is happening and to uncover irregularities, which creates greater security. We therefore want the wording about double staffing "if possible" to be deleted. We want it to take place in the presence of another person.

With that, Madam Speaker, I move for approval of reservation 3.

(Applause)

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

Johan Hultberg (M)

Madam Speaker! Escapes, runaways, drugs and weapons, threats and violence – all of this occurs at Sis's special youth homes. This is, in brief, the background as to why we must be able to put a stop to mobile phones and the internet at Sis homes. It is the reason why the Moderate-led government has now placed a proposal before the Riksdag regarding significantly tightened restrictions and strengthened control of not only mobile phones and other communication services but also of visits. To increase the security and safety at the special youth homes is absolutely necessary, and that is exactly what the Moderates and the government are now doing.

Madam Speaker! The safety and security at Sis's special youth homes have for many, many years been under all criticism. And unfortunately, it is not only the safety that has long been substandard within Sis, but the quality of care has also been. The alarm reports and the revelations about serious deficiencies and actually also pure conditions of neglect have been many. Against that background, many of us in the Social Affairs Committee have for a long time had a special focus on Sis and demanded action from the authority but, of course, ultimately from the government's side.

The previous government unfortunately neglected for far too long the serious deficiencies and major problems that have existed within Sis. The previous S-led government also did not give Sis the conditions, either financially or legislatively, to carry out its so important but also immensely difficult work and mandate in a good way. When the S-government did act, it was not sufficiently powerful either. But now we finally have a government that acts, and both powerfully and purposefully. It is a government that takes both acute and long-term measures.

Madam Speaker! I am very pleased that the Minister for Social Services, who is also participating in today's debate, has given a very clear message that the state child and youth care shall be reformed - and reformed from the ground up. Now, a special investigator has been tasked with producing a proposal for how the state child and youth care can be given a new start. The care shall become better and safer. The care chains shall become stronger and the security higher. This is a long-term task and a major reform journey, which will take time.

It should however be said that a great deal of positive things have happened and been done within Sis in recent years and especially since the change of government in 2022. The agency has, among other things, worked specifically on improving the care and safety for the girls who are cared for. Specifically, this involves, among other things, the establishment of special wards for girls.

In order for Sis to be able to continue working on improving differentiation and to meet the need for ever more places, the authority has been given very large grant increases. In the supplementary budget, Sis is now allocated an additional 300 million kronor, which is an increase that shall be used primarily for more places but also to take measures linked to Sis being given extended powers to be able to ensure order and security. Specifically, it could, for example, involve the possibility of locking residential rooms during the nights in certain cases.

Madam Speaker! The bill that we are debating today also concerns giving Sis extended powers in order to ensure order and security. Today, young criminals placed at Sis can freely use mobile phones and computers to communicate with their surroundings, and that possibility is not slow to be used by the criminals placed within Sis to, among other things, continue to manage and plan criminal activities - or even their own escapes.

We also see how phones and computers are used to get drugs into the youth homes, and how young girls continue to keep in contact with perpetrators, that is, with people who have previously assaulted them. What I am describing is truly disgusting, but unfortunately, that is how it works today. With the government's bill, we are now putting a stop to this.

Specifically, the bill means that Sis's special youth homes shall be divided into security levels and that there will be stricter general as well as targeted restrictions on the use of electronic communication services via, for example, mobile phones and computers.

Another important part of the bill concerns the limitation and control of visits. Receiving visits is something important and positive for a young person being cared for according to LVU or LSU within Sis. It is about facilitating a readjustment to a normal life.

At the same time, there are risks with visits that are difficult, if not impossible, to manage in a good way under today's legislation. With the proposal in the bill, it will now be possible to condition a visit on the visitor undergoing a body search.

In conclusion, I want to point out that Sis is now also given increased opportunities to carry out background checks in order to be able to make good decisions regarding communication and visits.

Madam Speaker! In short, we are now providing Sis with significantly better tools to maintain security and safety at the special youth homes. This means that today we take another important step to improve state child and youth care.

I therefore wish to move for approval of the committee's proposal and rejection of all reservations.

(Applause)

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

Martina Johansson (C)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Johan Hultberg, for the presentation! As we will hear shortly, the Center Party stands behind this legislation. There are, however, some points of concern, and based on those, we have some reservations.

The chairman himself brought up the reports that show major deficiencies within the State's institutional board. That is what makes the Center Party reluctantly agree to limit rights for children and young people. In the debate, it often sounds as if all youths who are at Sis homes are criminals or are there because they have been sexually exploited. But that is not quite the truth. There are also other children and young people who are at our institutions, and they need to receive safe and secure individual care.

Centerpartiets reservations concern about ensuring that individual decisions regarding restrictions are followed up at certain time intervals. There are reservations about ensuring that the implementation of the legislation is carried out with the correct knowledge support so that it is the right children and young people who have their communication restricted and not all young people.

My question to the member is why the Moderaterna and the government cannot stand behind ensuring that it is the right youths who have their communication restricted and not everyone.

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

Johan Hultberg (M)

Madam Speaker! Let me first remind you that the bill contains proposals for both general and individual restrictions. All children and young people who stay at Sis youth home and receive care and treatment there have the right to feel safe in an environment free from violence and drugs. Therefore, this bill is important.

I want to emphasize that the bill is absolutely about protecting society as a whole from gang criminals, who shall not be able to continue their criminal activities and so on. But it is equally about creating better conditions for Sis to provide just good, safe, secure and high-quality care to all children and young people cared for within Sis, regardless of the reason. Also important in the proposal is that the different Sis homes are divided into security classes so that the restrictions are greatest at the higher levels.

I also want to point out that Sis always has the mandate to, in some sense, reassess restrictions and so on. The legislation is clear that one fundamentally should not have greater restrictions than what is justified. If a youth is no longer judged to have the same security issues, that youth shall be moved to a youth home with a lower security class, for example.

Sis already has, with today's legislation, the mandate to ensure that restrictive measures are not used more than is necessary. As I pointed out in my speech, it is very important in the long term that we give the entire state child and youth care a fresh start. Member of Parliament Johansson and I are equally convinced of that need.

Sis needs a fresh start. We need a new authority that gives these children and young people really good care.

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

Martina Johansson (C)

Madam Speaker! Exactly - the bill contains both general and individual restrictions. Different security classes are to be established, and just as the member says, there are already today assignments to the agency to carry out individual assessments and ensure that reassessments are made as needed.

The reports that have come in recent years show, however, that one is not succeeding in this. We can take separations as an example. There have been reports since earlier that separation has occurred on incorrect grounds and for too long. Children and young people have been cut off from all contact, even with adults, for far too long.

Even though the legislation is there today, one simply does not manage to live up to the mandate. Therefore, I think, now that we are limiting rights, it is a pity that the Moderaterna and the government do not open up to truly follow up so that no child is affected by an incorrect limitation.

Again: What is it that makes the member confident that the current organization can already from the start manage this without the government taking specific supervision requirements into the work? One simply cannot manage it in other cases.

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

Johan Hultberg (M)

Madam Speaker! It is incredibly important that we continue to strengthen Sis so that they can address the serious problems and deficiencies that exist.

What we know is incredibly important for good and safe care that maintains a high quality: the possibility for wise placements and differentiation. We have, for example, seen that separations and the need to use coercive measures have decreased when Sis has managed to place children and young people in a wiser way and increase differentiation. Addressing the shortage of places, which the government is now doing by providing additional resources, is an example of an important measure to reduce the risk of needing to use coercive measures at all.

I still want to remind that all state activities are subject to follow-up, control, and supervision, so is Sis, and I believe that few agencies under the Social Ministry's control and umbrella have their eyes on them in the way that Sis does. I know that at least the Minister for Social Affairs, who is participating in the debate here, very closely and constantly follows up on the operations at Sis and demands improvement. We are anything but satisfied with the recurring reports of irregularities, problems, and deficiencies in the care at Sis, most recently today from the Swedish National Audit Office. It is just one in a series of reports pointing out serious deficiencies.

That is why it is important that we urgently create better conditions for Sis to provide children and young people with a safe and secure placement, and that is what I mean that this bill does. In the long term, a rethink of the state's child and youth care is required, and I know that the Moderaterna and Centerpartiet are in complete agreement on that.

(Applause)

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

Maj Karlsson (V)

Madam Speaker! Escapes, pardons, escalating violence, riots, and threats and violence against staff are the reasons underlying the proposal that the government has presented and which we are debating here today.

As a consequence of this serious situation, the government considers that Sis should divide all institutions according to different security levels and thereby also provide the possibility for different forms of restrictions. The government wants to see three different levels, where level one is high security, level two is good security, and level three is normal security.

Vänsterpartiet shares the view that the activity should be divided into different levels. But like the Children's Ombudsman, Ivo, and the National Board of Health and Welfare, we believe that the security classification and what should be considered when placing [individuals] in these must be clarified.

Our proposal for security classification is that only those children and young people who have been sentenced to closed juvenile care and have a need for higher security shall be placed in the highest security level. This could, for example, involve those children and young people who have links to gang crime, with a risk of escape and flight. Other placed children and young people shall be placed in security level 2 and 3 regardless of whether they are placed under LVU or sentenced to closed juvenile care. However, we want that within these security levels, a distinction be made between those children and young people who have been placed under LVU and those who have been sentenced to closed juvenile care but who do not have a need for security level 1. With that division, we believe that the risk of children and young people with different needs being placed together would be reduced and the conditions for providing the care they are entitled to and in need of would be increased.

We also ensure that children are never placed at a higher security level than their care requires, which is a fundamental right for children - especially when it comes to what is the core of the government's proposal, namely which rights shall be taken away from placed children and young people based on security classifications, not on an individual level but generally.

Madam Speaker! Based on the different security levels, the government wants to introduce extensive restrictions. They want to depart from the right to electronic communication that is mandated in LVU and instead introduce general restrictions, from which exceptions can be made. Today, placed children have the right to use, for example, an iPad or a phone in regulated forms, which can be restricted if necessary. Now the government wants to turn the tables so that children and young people may only use means of communication to the extent that it is appropriate. Furthermore, a child or a young person may only be in contact with another person. It may be important here to point out that communication for placed youth today is not completely free because there is already a possibility to restrict communication. The new law will, however, entail a major restriction of the individual's freedom and, in the worst case, can be misused, which can have far-reaching consequences.

Madam Speaker! I will now leave the technicalities aside to address what we are truly talking about. Placing a child in an institution, deprived not only of their family but of a considerable portion of their freedoms, is one of the most far-reaching restrictions the Swedish state can impose on a child. It is to place a child in a situation so exposed and vulnerable that most of us cannot imagine the consequences. It is about being locked up, monitored, controlled, and completely deprived of their basic security. It is a commitment the state makes but, in truth, does not manage well. In far too many cases, children are actually in the state's custody.

I do not need to account for the hundreds of separations of young girls, the isolations, the violence, and the young girls who have had teeth knocked out by staff or for the sexual assaults committed by employees. I do not need to list the countless reports we have received over the recent years from JO, Ivo, BO, children's rights organizations and not least from the placed children themselves - and now also from the National Audit Office. A terrifyingly large number of children have suffered for life, and it is the state that has inflicted this suffering on them. It has even been so bad that children have taken their own lives after the state has locked them up.

The government has realized after more than 30 years that this form of authority exercise has gone completely wrong. Therefore, the government has appointed an inquiry to reform the entire Sis, which is something we have fought for for a long time. This despite, the government chooses to further restrict a highly vulnerable group before the conditions have ceased, with proposals that give far too much room for misjudgments and abuse. All ends do not justify the means, especially not when it concerns children.

We have, like everyone else, taken note of the reports that employees are also being subjected to violence. We understand and agree that the violence capital present in some young people today necessitates different ways of working. Therefore, we consider it reasonable that within the highest security level, it should also be possible to impose restrictions on means of communication. But we firmly oppose this also applying to other levels.

I therefore move for approval of reservation 1.

After the horrific and completely unacceptable developments at Tysslinge, where young people have completely taken over the operations and the staff found themselves in a terrifying situation, Sis writes in its response to Ivo: "The number of places at Tysslinge has decreased from 33 to 24, which means that fewer youths are placed per ward. This in itself provides an increased staffing of 25 percent since October last year. The reduction in places is the single most important measure that has created stability after the summer incidents involving threats and violence."

For our part, this work to reduce violence and threats must begin. The failures we see within the authorities are, in fact, ultimately a matter of governance and leadership. This is shown, if not by anything else, by the National Audit Office's report and the stinging criticism we have received today.

Madam Speaker! I can inform the committee, with research backing me, that the most important thing we can do to reduce the risk of violence, escapes, and threats against staff and especially the children and young people we have promised to take care of is to create safety. We can build walls as high as we want and the world's safest premises, but it will never help those we lock up if the children do not receive care and are not treated with consideration. The worst thing we can do is to create incentives for restrictions and poor conditions. Penalism has, in fact, never led to improvement.

During the time the appointed investigation is ongoing, we must do everything in our power to ensure that no more irregularities occur. It places high demands on all of us who bear responsibility. I mean that when we introduce restrictions, and moreover substantial ones, these must be clear and not leave room for misjudgments. There must also be other measures in parallel. The groups must be reduced and the violence must cease immediately, and after every escape or attempted release, it must be evaluated what went wrong. Institutions that do not function must be closed immediately. Vänsterpartiet expects the government to return as soon as possible with answers on how this work shall look moving forward. We will never accept that children are placed in state dysfunctional care environments.

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

Camilla Rinaldo Miller (KD)

Madam Speaker! I move for approval of the committee's proposal for a decision. I therefore stand behind the government's proposal, which aims to increase the security and safety at the special youth homes.

Madam Speaker! For a long time, the situation for children and young people who need interventions from social child and youth care has been a concerning issue. When the situation is such that a placement is necessary, it must mean that it becomes better for every affected child. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Therefore, we must act to create conditions so that every young person who needs to be in a youth home receives a safe stay and a time that helps that young person move forward in a positive way. Therefore, the important legislative changes that are proposed and debated today are about dividing youth homes into security levels and about Sis having more opportunities to decide on restrictions and control of visits and communication services.

In society's preventive work, the goal is clearly that no youth should end up in a life situation that requires placement in a home. Now we know that it looks different in reality, and as long as the need for youth homes exists, a safe and secure environment must be able to be guaranteed.

Madam Speaker! In conversations with staff at residential homes, it emerges that there have been deficiencies in security for both those who work there and the youths. It is not at all uncommon that the young people have been exploited by criminal networks. However, it is equally common that they themselves have exploited people in their surroundings. These can be close relatives but also others in their social circle. That people should then be allowed to make visits without the staff being allowed to body-search the visitor or investigate whether the visitor has previously been convicted or suspected of a crime is unreasonable. Society's task is to guarantee a safe and secure environment as long as a youth is at the residential home. If there is to be a change for those in custody, they must be shielded from those who have a negative influence on them. Visitors who have a positive influence help instead to create a safe and secure existence. Youths who have been exploited or who have exploited others must be given a chance to find their way back to a life outside of criminality - a life many of these youths drifted away from a long time ago.

Of course, the staff has a major and decisive role in that process. That the staff is trained to guide the youths correctly is an important part, but the staff also need to be given the authority to prevent visitors who have a bad influence and who can also bring unauthorized items, such as weapons or drugs, into the homes.

Many things have improved in recent years. Above all, the deficiencies have been made visible, and there is a will within the authority to develop and improve the operations.

The Government is increasing the appropriations to Sis during 2024 by just over 300 million kronor, which can be used for more places for closed youth care and measures such as adaptation of premises and training of staff.

But it will require much more. If we are to have functioning Sis-homes, powerful measures and changes are needed. It is good that the government is now allocating funds for this. For example, all staff need to have the education and competence required to do their job. That is not the case today.

In conclusion, Madam Speaker: For me as a mother of two children, boundaries have always been an important part of my upbringing – not because I want them ill and want to limit their lives, but simply because I love my children and out of love I want to set boundaries. Those boundaries simultaneously give them a freedom in knowing what is right and wrong.

Many of the youths who are in custody today have never had any boundaries earlier in life. It therefore becomes even more important that the staff at the homes have the authority to set boundaries.

If we mean business with that youth care should be exactly that, care, that the young people who have gone through the operation should come out better than they were when they entered, Sis also needs more tools to make the stay safer. Safety is not just about safety for the young people themselves but also about safety for staff, guardians, and obviously the victim.

What we are taking a position on today is by no means revolutionary and will, of course, not solve all the problems that Sis faces today. However, it does represent a small step in the right direction towards making the operations somewhat more secure. Let us make that difference together!

I usually say that we must never forget that behind every decision we make here in the Riksdag, there is an individual person who is affected in one way or another. This is about giving hope that there is help to be had and a future after the time at the youth home, a future outside of a criminal life. Today, you and I can make that difference.

(Applause)

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

Martina Johansson (C)

Madam Speaker! The legislation we are discussing today, regarding the ability to limit, among other things, electronic communication, is legislation that we in the Center Party see as a necessity – perhaps not with joy, but it is nevertheless necessary to make this change. The reason is that things unfortunately look different today than when we wrote the law. We need a changed law in order to be able to limit access to communication and thereby ensure that children and young people receive care and that the staff can do their jobs. By simultaneously classifying our different institutions by security level, we increase the possibility of introducing the restrictions at the right level.

I would, however, still like to raise a warning finger, Madam Speaker. This legislation also entails risks. We need to ensure that the wrong children are not restricted in an incorrect way.

Why do I then see these risks that I want to warn about? Partly it is because the general public debate is about criminal youths, while at the same time we know that not everyone who is at our institutions are criminal youths. It is also about the reports that have come in over many years and which show that the institutions are not managing their mission. It has been about separations that have been incorrect. They have been too long and occurred in the wrong ways. Girls have been subjected to sexual harassment. As has already been mentioned from the rostrum a couple of times today, we also have today's report from Riksrevisionen.

It is these deficiencies, which exist in both employees and certain parts of the management, that make the care and nursing not as good as we all want it to be. Therefore, we also need to see that there is a risk that this legislation will not be implemented in exactly the way that is our intention.

I also want to remind that while we do these things, we must also be able to focus on preventing more children and young people from suffering in society, whether it concerns parents failing in their care or whether it concerns the individual children's or youths' own behavior. We must ensure that we get more and better uniform and knowledge-based interventions at BVC and in preschool. Every time a child is placed in social services, it is a failure of us adults around them, who should have provided the child or the young person with other conditions.

I will say nothing other than that we from Centerpartiet stand behind the legislation. But since Sis fell short, we would have liked to see some other additions to it.

We take a stand, for example, that body searches should never be able to be carried out by only one employee, precisely to ensure that they are conducted in a correct manner.

We would also like that the possibility of transferring the responsibility for children and young people sentenced under LSU to Kriminalvården be reviewed already now. I am not talking about youth prisons, but about Kriminalvården, perhaps together with Ivo, receiving the responsibility to ensure that these young people receive the correct care and the correct transition to a life outside of the institutions, so that Sis can focus on other children and young people who need other types of interventions. This should be something we could do already now, without waiting for an investigation, because children and young people are affected today.

These are the deficiencies we see, and that is why I am concerned that the principle of proportionality is not being met in these decisions. It is also the reason for the appeals Centerpartiet has, Madam Speaker.

We need to follow the implementation closely so that it is knowledge-based. We also want the Riksdag to receive an annual report on what the law has entailed: What measures have been taken? What effect have they had for the children and young people who are in care, both those who are to have restrictions and those who are not? I would have liked the government and the governing parties to have seen that this is actually needed to secure the rights of children and young people and also to reassure the Center Party and the Riksdag otherwise that correct implementation occurs.

It is, as has been said, an important piece of legislation, but I still want to repeat this with a warning finger.

I would have wished that the government had taken the lead to ensure follow-up at the individual level. There are other examples within health and medical care where we are good at following up on what the care provides in the individual patient's life. As far as I know, however, there is no equivalent within social child and youth care. I would have wished that the government had already arranged such a thing. But please do it now, in order to create this security and ensure that the legislation we agree upon is implemented in a correct way that creates the security we want and does not exclude children in an incorrect way!

With that, I move for approval of reservation number 12.

(Applause)

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

Gulan Avci (L)

Madam Speaker! During the last 20 years, crime has changed character and become more brutal. Crime has also dropped radically in age. Today we have a development where children kill each other on the open street. Innocent people have their homes blown up, and more and more relatives of gang criminals seek protection desperately from the police.

Today's system of closed youth care is not adapted to take care of such serious criminals with such great capacity for violence. These children and young people constitute a danger to both themselves and other people.

Due to the weak security regulations, many children and young people can have contact with gang criminals outside the special youth homes and continue with their criminal activities. Under today's legislation, the staff cannot prevent them from using mobile phones or other electronic tools to connect to the internet, which has enabled direct contact with the criminal world and contributed to many young people being able to plan their escapes and actually have been able to escape from the special youth homes.

Madam Speaker! Our mission as politicians is to observe developments and act in time. No one in this chamber can say that they have not seen how crime has been brutalized and created fear in large parts of our society, while youth care has not been able to handle the situation.

If this development is to be stopped, it is necessary to tighten the rules for how communication equipment can be used. The changes proposed in the report represent a significant improvement for security. They protect children from criminal gangs and strengthen closed youth care. Today, we are therefore not debating restrictions on freedom, as some in the chamber have wanted to insinuate, but we are debating how we can provide children living in vulnerable situations the security they have a right to but have not received.

That the boys, for it is most often boys, at such a young age have become perpetrators and been drawn into serious crime is the ultimate proof that society has failed to protect them from the criminal gangs. That we are now giving the Sis-homes important tools that regulate how these children and young people are to use electronic equipment is, therefore, about protecting them against the gangs' opportunity to be able to have contact and lure them into continued crime.

It is about giving these children and young people a new chance to choose a new path and giving them protection and the most appropriate care. But it is also about protecting society. During recent years, there have been reports of how young people have managed to escape and then committed new crimes, which has had serious consequences, how they have threatened staff and other young people at the homes, and how Sis has entered emergency mode due to the escalating development.

Madam Speaker! It is clear that Sis needs to undergo a comprehensive change. The truth is that for a long time it was overlooked by the Social Democratic-led government. The agency Sis was not given the adequate tools it needed to be able to fulfill its mission. But now this government is doing it. We prioritize measures that increase safety and quality in society's care while we have begun a large but important change of the Sis homes. It is about protecting society's most vulnerable children who today do not receive the support and the help they need and deserve.

Madam Speaker! I want to emphasize that these changes will not solve the major societal problems, but this bill will be an important step in the right direction so that we get an important state institution that can actually perform its most important and primary core mission, which is to help and protect vulnerable children.

With this, I move for approval of the committee's proposal in the report and rejection of all reservations.

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Ulrika Westerlund (MP)

Madam Speaker! That Sis, the State Institution Board, faces enormous challenges in its operations, and perhaps particularly within the special youth homes, has been clear for a long time. The idea is that young people placed in the special youth homes should receive good care that ensures they leave there stronger and ready for a different future. Young people who have committed crimes shall receive the right interventions to prevent them from continuing to do this.

Its broad mandate, where young people with very different needs fall under the same authority's responsibility, has created a number of problems, including great difficulties for the authority to prevent people who are detained or have recently left the residences from continuing to commit crimes, but also completely different types of problems, such as abuse inside the residences themselves, not infrequently with staff as perpetrators.

Sis has also received very serious criticism, among others from JO, Ivo, the Children's Ombudsman and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. There are reports that show both violence and sexual abuse as well as a lack of security, not least the report Who should believe me? An investigation of sexual abuse at the state youth homes, which the organizations Childhood and Barnrättsbyrån have produced. The situation as a whole is deeply worrying.

Preventing crime is, of course, very important, and it is the main purpose of the proposals in the bill that we are debating here today. The Government writes that they want to increase safety and security at the special youth homes. We agree on the importance of this, but we believe that some of the proposals in reality can also risk leading to unwanted consequences. We therefore want to, among other things, highlight the need for a strengthened child perspective and proportionality and, in the long run, the importance of ensuring legal certainty.

Madam Speaker! Even though we are today discussing reforms within the framework of Sis in its current form, I also want to say something in this context about the need for a comprehensive reform. Miljöpartiet went out in March 2023 and demanded that Sis in its current form be abolished and that the compulsory care of children must be reformed fundamentally. We believe that the entire chain of interventions for children and young people should be reviewed. The children's rights perspective needs to become much stronger overall, with an emphasis on early and evidence-based interventions, and all care must be of high quality. It must also be absolutely excluded that there is a risk of abuse when a child is cared for by the community. The children who need to be placed according to LSU due to crime need interventions that are specifically adapted for this.

We therefore welcome that the Minister for Social Affairs is clearly on roughly the same track, namely that Sis should be shut down and fundamentally restructured, and has therefore appointed an inquiry into the matter. In the best-case scenario, the entire activity that the bill concerns will look completely different going forward. Until then, however, we consider it important to make some observations.

We believe that the changes being proposed now need to be followed closely and continuously from the start from both a legal certainty and a child perspective and not only be evaluated in hindsight. The Government should ensure that this happens in an appropriate manner.

We also consider, like among others the Children's Ombudsman, that there may be a need to be able to make exceptions from the rules in individual cases. The Government should review the issue of exceptions and individual assessments specifically and return with an appropriate adjustment. The right to appeal also needs to be clarified.

The follow-up that the government has announced should be carried out after a period of time, need to be comprehensive and qualitative, and clearly include child and legal certainty perspectives. We propose that child rights representatives should be able to be present in such a follow-up in an appropriate manner.

Miljöpartiet also considers that there needs to be independent observers at the Sis homes whom children and young people should be able to contact in cases of misconduct and when their rights are not taken seriously. An effective and well-functioning complaint function is needed. The one that exists today at Ivo is not sufficient.

The legislative change is proposed to enter into force as early as May 15 this year, which is considered too fast according to several referral bodies. We agree with this. We believe that the entry into force should be later because Sis needs time to develop routines and guidelines as well as train staff so that the handling becomes legally secure. We therefore propose that the government returns with a proposal for a reasonable time point for when this can be ensured.

I support all of the Green Party's reservations but move for the approval of reservation 13.

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Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)

Madam Speaker! In December last year, the police received an alarm about an ongoing shooting in Stockholm. The time was one, in the middle of the day, and at the scene, a man with severe gunshot wounds was found. Fortunately, the perpetrators were managed to be apprehended. It turned out that one of them had recently escaped from a Sis-home.

This is unfortunately just one of many examples of when young people who are cared for or have been cared for at Sis have been directly involved in serious crimes. Today, a young criminal placed at Sis can plan their own escape by being able to freely use their mobile phone and computer to communicate with the outside world.

According to the police, it is also not uncommon for criminal networks to recruit children and young people placed in social services' care to commit murders and other serious violent crimes. Yes, you heard that correctly. They recruit them inside the Sis homes.

With the proposals in this bill, we are now taking several important steps to ensure that children and young people cared for at Sis can be protected from criminals who continue to try to exploit and control them through mobile phones, computers, and visits.

Madam Speaker! We know that children placed at Sis have very different needs. They range from young girls who were subjected to violence and abuse before placement to young boys who have committed serious crimes. Even the young boys have, in many cases, been subjected to severe violence and abuse.

The Inspectorate for Health and Social Services, Ivo, has demonstrated recurring threats, violence, and violations against girls from both staff and other placed children. At the same time, young gang criminals have been able to engage in crime planning, threats, substance abuse, and preparing their own escape.

Sis has a complex and difficult but at the same time important mission. To ensure safe and secure environments for the children and young people placed at Sis, for the staff and for society at large, significant changes and improvements are required.

Madam Speaker! The state child and youth care has not kept pace with societal developments. Serious crime has crept down in age, and more children and young people within social services have connections to criminal networks.

The care needs of children and young people have also increased significantly. Children and young people who are placed in special youth homes many times expose their physical or mental health to tangible risks, for example through substance abuse, through severe self-harming behavior, or by staying in environments where organized crime occurs.

Against the background of just this, the government has appointed an inquiry with the aim of reviewing and reforming the entire state child and youth care's mandate and organization. And this, I want to add, should have happened a long time ago.

Extensive work of change is needed regarding, among other things, quality of care, lack of space, safety issues, and competence supply. The future state children and youth care shall have high quality, and it shall be rights-based and knowledge-based. It shall be safe and secure for everyone who stays there, both for the children and young people for whom society has taken responsibility and for the staff.

Madam Speaker! At the same time as we prepare for future reforms, we must ensure that the situation here and now is as good and safe as possible for all those who are placed at Sis.

In the budget bill for 2024, the government increased the agency's appropriation by 145 million for 2024, 153 million for 2025, and 156 million for 2026. It is a historically large appropriation. The initiative aims, among other things, to strengthen the conditions for developing differentiation and quality of care at Sis, ensure the supply of competence, and raise the level of competence. The initiative is also about securing the care and work environment and adapting Sis's premises.

This year, the government is also providing Sis with additional funds to increase safety and security and to ensure that Sis can make the changes required now that they are receiving new powers. In the year-end budget, we ensure that the appropriation to Sis during 2024 is increased by an additional more than 300 million kronor.

This bill is an important piece of the puzzle. We must do everything in our power to put a stop to the recruitment into criminal gangs. The proposals in the bill therefore do not come a day too early.

To begin with, the government proposes that the State Institution Board's, Sis, special youth homes shall be divided into security levels.

The next proposal is that the person who, with support of the Act on Special Provisions on the Care of Young People, is cared for in a special youth home with an increased security level, or the person who serves closed youth care according to the Act on the Execution of Closed Youth Care, shall be allowed to use electronic communication services only to be in contact with another person. Such communication is proposed to only be allowed with equipment provided or approved by Sis and to the extent that this is appropriate.

Sis shall be granted expanded possibilities to decide on restrictions and control of visits at specific youth homes. A visit may, among other things, be conditioned on the visitor undergoing a body search if it is necessary for security reasons. Sis shall also, if needed, investigate whether the person whom the child or the young person wishes to communicate with or receive a visit from is convicted or suspected of a crime.

I want to emphasize that these proposals do not mean that those placed at Sis shall not have the right to communicate with or meet close relatives, their loved ones, for example their own family. On the other hand, it is important to point out that Sis needs the authority to deny visits if it poses a significant risk to the person placed, for example if the visitor is a member of a criminal gang or has previously attempted to smuggle in weapons or drugs.

Sis has needed this for a long time. Now it is finally becoming a reality.

Madam Speaker! These legislative changes are proposed to enter into force as early as May 15 this year. It is a success that both the government and the Riksdag, through the processing of these proposals, ensure that within a few weeks we have laws in place to stop the criminal gangs' opportunities to control and exploit those placed at Sis. This should have been in place for a long time.

Naturally, I and the government will closely monitor the implementation of these legislative proposals while we continue to work on more proposals to further improve care for placed children and young people.

Madam Speaker! The starting point in the government's work is to increase and strengthen the safety and security of children and young people. If one is placed in society's care, it should be a self-evident matter. If one is placed for some reason, one should be much better off when coming out of care than when one was taken in. That should also be a self-evident matter, but that is not the case today.

Today, the Swedish National Audit Office gave us a new report on this. It concerns insufficiently trained, perhaps even unsuitable staff, poor adaptation regarding individual care needs, and very large differences between the various Sis homes. Much has happened in recent years, but not enough and not fast enough. That is why the government is now proceeding with the investigation that will ensure we get a new authority in place that provides care and treatment according to need, but until then we must ensure safety here and now. This bill means, among other things, that we do exactly that.

(Applause)

In this speech, Johan Hultberg and Jesper Skalberg Karlsson (both M) concurred.

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

Martina Johansson (C)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, for the speech! The Minister has had responsibility for this activity for nearly two years. We all know that we could have done many different things along the way. We could have highlighted the problems within state youth care much earlier. We can agree on that. But my question is how the Minister is working to ensure that the legislation we are now talking about is implemented in the right way, given that not much has happened in daily care so far.

How does the Minister monitor this, and how does the Minister measure that it makes a difference? How do you measure the effect of previous measures that have been implemented to ensure the quality of care and nursing? How do you ensure that the children themselves also have a voice in the evaluations that are carried out? I know that it is an important issue for the Minister, but in what way do you ensure that those who are being cared for are able to participate in describing what is happening? When we provide funds for increased competence reinforcement, how does the Minister monitor that the employees actually receive training? According to the National Audit Office's report, they have not received it.

The Minister often returns to investigations that have been commissioned, which we all agree are needed, to review the responsibility. But what is the Minister doing to follow the work that takes place in the operations every day so that the children and young people receive the correct care?

The report states that if children and young people do not receive the intended care and treatment, the probability of them relapsing into crime, substance abuse, or other socially destructive behavior increases. We must ensure that we measure this and do not merely commission an investigation.

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

Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)

Madam Speaker! This is an incredibly important and prioritized issue for the government. I could say that many governments have failed this authority and, by extension, also society's most vulnerable children and young people. Therefore, I am extra proud to belong to a government that, for the first time, stands its ground and states that we will no longer do so. That time is now over.

There is a large, suppressed need for work that I know the member is well aware of. During the time when the member's party influenced the previous government, a number of measures intended for Sis were not taken. Therefore, I am naturally pleased that the member - and the member's party, I assume - is now extra concerned that much should happen at Sis. I see that as a great support.

We need many of us to be able to guarantee that the measures intended to change the conditions for children and young people in this country are long-term. All children and young people should have the right to a bright and fine future, but as youth care functions today, they do not get it. Child and youth care is failing in quite many parts of the chain, and not a day goes by without me wishing that more things had happened earlier.

We are working systematically and strategically to ensure that the voices of children and young people are heard. It concerns a complaint function that we will carefully monitor as it is implemented, evaluated, and developed. In addition, we have a number of proposals that are currently being prepared in the Government Offices from the inquiries that actually must be conducted to get legislative proposals on the table.

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

Martina Johansson (C)

Madam Speaker! We agree that many governments have failed these children, and we could have done more even during the last term. That was exactly what I said.

Regardless of how many words and how much commitment and power we have in this chamber, we must also know that the measures make a difference for the individual child. For a period of time, I have called for information on how we know that what is being done is evidence-based.

Why is Socialstyrelsen not commissioned to ensure that there is knowledge and that research is conducted where there is a lack of knowledge? Why do we not ensure that there are better tools and methods and that the right tools and methods are used both in municipal work and within state child and youth care? We must measure that they work.

Quality registers exist within healthcare, but not within social, child, and youth care. We need to know that we are actually making a difference.

We have a common commitment to these issues, I, the minister, and many others in this chamber. But we want to know that what is being done works.

It will be exciting to read the entire report from the Swedish National Audit Office. I have not had the time to do that yet. They also point out that the admissions and discharges need to be adjusted. A professional routine was needed. The Minister could have tasked Socialstyrelsen to develop that as soon as she took office. No large, state investigation was needed to task an agency with finding out how the actual quality is measured.

Speaking of investigations, one has gone from proposal to decision in three months when it came to restricting rights and introducing visitation zones. But we cannot act just as quickly when we are to build rights.

Again: How do we measure that this legislation lands correctly together with other measures?

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Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)

Madam Speaker! When I began working on the directives for what is to become the future of child and youth care, I allowed it to take extra much time because I wanted precisely the child rights organizations to be involved. Their voice was extremely important. It was also extremely important for me to, for example, include the Sis girls in the dialogue. I let it take time because it was important that those who have worked closely with children and young people and that girls who themselves have been in Sis were able to speak out and describe what they considered necessary. This is visible today in the directives. They take their starting point in care and treatment and that one should receive help based on the conditions one has, for example, a traumatic childhood and abuse one may have been exposed to. This means that we are now taking important steps.

We are doing things here and now. What we do today is partly about the fact that the guys – for it is usually guys – who are in the highest-security Sis-homes today will not be able to have contact with the outside world via electronic communication equipment. Just as someone said here earlier, it is primarily about them, but not exclusively. It is also about the girls – for it is primarily girls, even though there are also guys – who continue to be subjected to, among other things, sexual perpetrators. This has occurred for many years. One should truly be ashamed of how long it has been going on.

The government is now working systematically and consistently to change this. Parts of this will, for example, be possible to monitor through the new social services data register law, which will become an additional instrument when monitoring the care that we both safeguard.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(Decisions were made under § 9.)

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