Response to interpellation 2023/24:316 on extra support for children in social care

Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)

Mr. Speaker! Marcus Wennerström has asked me in what way I, within my area of responsibility, intend to work to ensure that children in social care receive the support needed to manage their schooling. Marcus Wennerström has also asked me what measures I, within my area of responsibility, see the state can provide to the municipalities to support schools that receive children in social care.

It has long been known and documented that children and young people in social care have low educational results. Research simultaneously shows that good school results are a very important protective factor for children and young people in social care.

Ensuring a good education for children and young people in social care is an important issue that is closely linked to the quality of care for children in social care. For example, studies show that there is a clear connection between the number of placement instances and the school results and education level of placed children and young people. The more placement instances, the poorer the school results.

The investigation on children and young people in social care has had the task, among others, of analyzing what is required for placed children and young people to have a well-functioning schooling. In November 2023, the investigation submitted its report *För barn och unga i samhällsvård*. In the report, several proposals are submitted that aim to clarify responsibility and increase the conditions for an uninterrupted schooling. The report is currently undergoing a referral process, and I do not wish to anticipate the preparation of the investigation's proposals.

The government is implementing major initiatives to support schools in their work to provide students with access to effective support measures at the right time. This includes, among other things, giving schools better opportunities to employ more special education teachers and establish more special education groups.

From the Tidö Agreement, it appears that a broad reform shall be made to improve student health and that the student health care mandate should be reinstated. A student health guarantee is introduced with the goal of increasing accessibility to student health.

Through the investment in so-called school social teams, the government improves the possibilities for officials to strengthen the cooperation between school and social services and increase school attendance for the students.

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Marcus Wennerström (S)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.

The shining future is ours. That is what it says in Studentsången, and just as the Minister is pointing out, a completed education is one of the best investments a young person can have for the future to be bright. At the same time, we see that the opportunities for a fully completed education look very different.

If we look more specifically at the group of children and young people who are placed in society's care, we see very worrying figures. I received statistics regarding young people born 1995-1997. There it turned out that of children and young people who had been placed in foster homes for at least five years, it is only 60 percent of the girls who achieve eligibility for upper secondary school. For the boys, the figure is 52 percent. If we look instead at those placed in HVB (residential care), we see that it is 40 percent of the girls and 33 percent of the boys. In the population as a whole, the corresponding figures for those who finished primary school in 2015 were instead 88 percent and 79 percent respectively.

The difference is enormous, which is deeply problematic. The statistics do, however, mean that we have a specific and delimited group that it is possible to work with. It means that we can address and try to combat the problem.

In Uppsala municipality, a pilot project has been conducted for a couple of years to create extra support specifically for children in social care when they are introduced to the municipality's schools. The project has been successful, and since the turn of the year, it is being rolled out across Uppsala municipality.

The core of it is precisely about the school start, that is, when a child, from a new placement, enters school. Through the municipality's student health services, a special team is assembled around the student, where the teacher receives support in gathering information about the student's school background. One meets the student, one arranges practical matters, one observes, and if the student has extra large needs, one allocates additional resources.

But what stood out particularly at that specific operations meeting was the relationship-building work that they also focus on. The team working with the student also includes a trained teacher who comes to the class and first has meetings with the student who is being placed. This teacher is also in the class to be able to relieve the receiving teacher so that the teacher, who is to build the long-term relationship with the student, has the opportunity to step aside and create the important conditions for the student to be able to enter the class.

I think it was a very fine example of how one can take initiative and work to strengthen the circle around these children who are placed in social services' care with relatively small means. In this regard, I would like to hear if the government, via the Minister, sees that there is an additional need to strengthen the work surrounding the children and young people who are placed in social services' care.

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

Mona Olin (SD)

Mr. Speaker! All children and young people should have a safe upbringing. It is primarily the parents' responsibility. But a great responsibility also rests on the school and on society.

The state child and youth care shall be designed so that even those young people who, for some reason, have not had or have had a secure upbringing shall be given a bright future and hope for the future through care, security, and education.

The Sweden Democrats and the government have now taken major steps to ensure this. It is positive that an investigation to reform state childcare and youth care is being appointed by the government together with the Sweden Democrats.

It is a well-known fact that the state child and youth care has not kept pace with societal developments. In 1999, when the closed youth care was introduced, there was no reasonable possibility for anyone to predict what reality would look like 25 years later. Perhaps one should have acted earlier – perhaps one should have taken into account changes in society and reformed Sis's activities earlier. What we face now is, among other things, an increased care need among children and young people within community care, a serious crime that is creeping further down in age, and serious deficiencies within Sis's activities.

As it stands today, Sis's activities compensate for the deficiencies in psychiatry. Sis has a broad mandate to meet children and young people with different needs, but we see that precisely these children and young people most often have a heavier care need and that the group of young people with serious psychosocial and mental conditions is today placed within Sis's activities.

Mr. Speaker! It is testified that several of these youths should actually have been placed within child and adolescent psychiatry, but that the municipalities in their work do not get the youths into BUP and then choose, as a second option, to place them at Sis. It is even questionable whether Sis actually has a statutory mandate to meet young people with such a strong need for psychiatry.

The investigation mandate includes analyzing the causes of the deficiencies in the quality of care and proposing which core missions the operation should have. How does the Minister view that young people, due to a lack of availability at BUP, are instead placed at Sis, and what measures will be taken to ensure that this does not continue?

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Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the members for the questions. I think this is an extremely urgent interpellation, because we know that children and young people are exposed to great risks when they enter the care of society. We also know that the children and young people who are in the care of society have poorer educational results than others. This is problematic and completely unacceptable – if there are any children who are to have extra support and help through their upbringing, it is precisely these children.

We know that there are many prevention factors, but there are two that are particularly clear.

It is a matter of supporting the family. Society needs to support the family. Already when the child is placed, there are increased risk factors, despite it being the opposite of what we would like to see. The initiative on parenting support is very important. It is a research- and evidence-based way to meet this.

It is also about the school. I wish we could have been able to vaccinate all children against, for example, having parents with substance abuse problems or mental illness, but unfortunately, I do not believe this is possible. That means we must prepare and sharpen ourselves for a future where we are to have a completely different child and youth care than what we have today. Today's child and youth care does not measure up.

School is thus the second major prevention factor; it is clearly shown in the research. It is also a matter of common sense. If one has completed school, one has the opportunity to make decisions that move one forward in life and take one away from the situation one might be in at that moment. Therefore, school is incredibly central in the government's work to strengthen various prevention factors.

There are several parts to this. One of the absolutely most important, which I want to highlight in this post, is the school social teams. For the first time, we will see a broad-based cooperation between social services and teachers. This is partly a new arena for our social secretaries, who will be present inside the schools, but I have very high hopes. When I travel around and meet social services and schools across the country, I try to urge them to dare to be brave and design this so that the resources are used to truly meet the children who are placed in the school.

I am an old teacher and have found myself in the situation where I receive a call in the morning informing me that a new student is coming to the class. They are young people who have not infrequently been quite let down by the adult world many times before. They can be quite tough and perhaps rude, because they have gone through this process so many times before.

I want to say something about all the relocations that are happening today, including when it comes to foster homes. The more relocations there are, the greater the risk of failure. That is why this is so multifaceted. The school social teams and an increased investment in student health are important things, as is that we get a better matching of the foster homes.

I would be happy to return further to Mona Olin's question. However, it is the case that this investigation focuses on increased support, among other things when it concerns mental health, and also takes very important starting points in developing the school.

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Marcus Wennerström (S)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for her second contribution.

Regarding the post from Sverigedemokraterna, I want to say that it is important that we talk about the same things. I perceived the post from Sverigedemokraterna as being about the care provided at the residences of Statens institutionsstyrelse. It is probably just as urgent to talk about Sis, but what I am trying to highlight here concerns children placed in HVB homes and in foster homes. These are two somewhat different issues in relation to the basic theme, which is how one ensures a good schooling for these youths.

Just as the Minister pointed out, it is in many municipalities to some extent uncharted territory to try to achieve a close, well-functioning, and well-oiled way of working between school and social services. In the Uppsala example, we can clearly see that the housing, that is, the family home or the HVB home, is brought into the collaborative work so that it becomes a troika to put the whole together. Examples were given of how they have been able to help by going out to an HVB home or family home to conduct teaching there as a threshold-lower so that the student can then be able to come to school.

The result is that students who have never been in school suddenly start appearing and that students who have not had any grades receive grades. It is an enormous journey for these children, who so many times have been let down by the entire adult world. They have never felt any support, but suddenly we can institutionalize that there is a force in society that sees the children and gives them an opportunity to grow as individuals.

The Minister mentioned that school support is an incredibly important factor. I think this is important. I also want to make a point of what has been done in Uppsala with identifying the time of placement as a golden moment.

Sometimes it happens, just as the Minister pointed out, that a call comes in the morning announcing that someone has been placed in emergency care. We need to take responsibility for ensuring a school education that is as uninterrupted as possible. Quite often, however, there is a certain amount of foresight, and then it becomes a task where one views both the week prior and the initial weeks as golden moments to create a positive relationship between the student and the school, which will be a major and important part of the youth's everyday life.

The Minister is welcome to elaborate on how school social teams might fit into such a way of working, how guided the idea of school social teams is, and what could be developed further. I believe we can learn something from Uppsala that can also be used in other parts of the country.

I cannot help but wonder about the example the Minister mentioned regarding the short lead time and the lack of control we have on the HVB market, also linked to foster homes. During the week, the Minister announced that there will be changes regarding both Sis and HVB homes. The Minister is welcome to elaborate on which parts of the HVB home issues this concerns. Can we get a better and clearer structure that also ensures that it is not always the same schools that have to receive these often very resource-intensive students?

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Mona Olin (SD)

Mr. Speaker! The state child and youth care shall guarantee safe and purposeful care for placed children and young people. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and it is one of the reasons why the investigation has been commissioned. No children and young people in the society's care in foster homes, HVB homes, or within Sis shall risk being subjected to physical or mental violence, abuse, or sexual exploitation by other placed individuals or by the staff who are to protect them. Those who have been subjected to any of this and those who still are will carry the abuse with them for a long time to come, perhaps their entire lives.

What does the Minister consider needs to be done to ensure that these children and young people are offered support and aftercare to a greater extent?

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Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)

Mr. Speaker! Let me once again emphasize that when society takes on the great responsibility of, among other things, making decisions regarding LVU and taking a child into care, something of the most intrusive society can do, society also undertakes an extensive obligation to provide high-quality care.

In my assignment, I wish daily that much more had been done earlier, because it is a shame for Sweden that today's child and youth care functions so poorly. It almost does not matter which stone the government and I lift, because right now no part of the chain is functioning. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that we are now taking a collective grip on the entire care chain and placing a large and clear focus on early and preventive work, because these children and families can be identified early. They should then be followed all the way, from a strong preschool and onwards. The preschool is extremely important for children to get a good start before primary school.

Mr. Speaker! I waited throughout Marcus Wennerström's speech for an invitation to Uppsala to come. But I am bold enough to invite myself, and I hope that the member can imagine leading this study trip. I think it sounds extremely interesting and exactly in line with what the government would like to see happening around the country.

I hope that every principal, social services head, and education head sees the school social teams as the asset they can become. Not to be forgotten is that one must also bring together different cultures from social services and school. I believe that one plus one will become significantly more than two in this case, because the conditions exist if it is done in the right way.

For children and young people in foster homes, HVB homes, or Sis homes, school is often particularly difficult, and they rarely have positive experiences of it. Therefore, I am proud and happy that the investigations presented now are beginning their work and that the HVB investigation will look specifically at a higher degree of differentiation and better support, where the school is an important part. The future authority we now know as Sis will have a strong focus on the school, which is clearly evident from the directives. There is also a clear focus here that no part of the care chain is functioning, and when it comes to the important aftercare, the government sees that it belongs with a strong growth of more and reinforced foster homes and more treatment families.

For the first time in however many decades, there is a red line throughout the government's work. It is about early, preventive work but also about supporting with evidence-based methods all the way so that the children and young people who also in the future need society's care can be taken care of.

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Marcus Wennerström (S)

Mr. Speaker! It was not my intention to be rude, but I can now, here in the speaker's chair, publicly and documented invite the Minister. I shall attempt to arrange a trip to Uppsala where we can together meet those who have started this fantastic project and see what we can learn to achieve a better and well-functioning schooling for children in group homes in the future.

The Minister took up the issue of aftercare. I know I am nagging about my example, but the children in Uppsala may not have their final destination there and are placed again and again for various reasons. An important part of the work is then that when a child is relocated or when the social services intervention ends, the team is present during the handover to the one who is to take over. Uppsala thus takes responsibility for what comes afterwards.

I want to believe that we are moving towards a reform. The investigation that forms the basis for the government's work was initiated during the previous term, and it is very good that the work is being taken forward and continues. There will certainly be political dividing lines that we want to focus on, but because it concerns children and young people, we must look beyond politics. I have tried to focus on the positive and highlight positive examples, because I believe that by focusing on the positive, we as decision-makers and those in power can create a brighter future.

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Statsrådet Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (M)

Mr. Speaker! That is also something I am completely convinced of. There is much we can disagree on, but when it comes to the long-term conditions for supporting and helping society's most vulnerable children and giving them a future, we should show political maturity and respect for both these children and all the professional groups who work around these children. Let us show them that we are now trying to build an increasingly sustainable long-term cathedral of safety and security for vulnerable children.

I therefore look forward to turning our focus back towards Uppsala. I have been there quite a bit over the last few months, and there is much to take in there, not least when it comes to the situation in those districts in Uppsala where one unfortunately has many years of experience of extensive gang crime. This is also our starting point when we design the policy and the proposals we are working on.

Overall, it is important to highlight the positive examples. I want to once again emphasize the member's words on this. For me, it is almost inconceivable that, in this relatively small country, it is so difficult to spread the good examples in such a way that they are used and have an effect in more municipalities or areas.

It is now important to work with both long-term perspective and foresight, something we do not see exists today, in order to be able to strengthen these children and young people. There, the government will have a very strong focus on the school to ensure that the important prevention factor is included.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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