The social shortcomings in the handling of orosanmälningar – Sveriges Radio

How important it is that there is a orosanmälan when you suspect a child is being abused, and that the social services then investigates the suspicions quickly became evident in the high-profile case of eight-year-old Yara, who was beaten to death in Karlskrona in April 2014.

Later it was found in several investigations that both the school and social services had failed in their routines.

in the new report, the National Board that the situation of social services is still strained in many municipalities.

The Board has interviewed managers in the 22 municipalities that themselves have stated that they do not handle orosanmälningarna entirely according to the rules.

One of the most serious deficiencies, according to the National Board of Health, the protection assessments to be made on the same day or the day after if notification is received late.

Five of the respondents municipalities state that they do not always do it.

– And ultimately, if we do not make a security assessment, it may be harmful to the child or the young, says Elisabeth Svedberg, an investigator at the National Board.

you’ve interviewed a small number of municipalities, how representative is the image you get?

– We can not say how it generally looks in the municipalities on the basis of these interviews, but I still think

the report, the third of a total of four, is to map the social service work around the country .

186 municipalities have already stated that the position of social services is critically or seriously affected.

And the main reason for the shortfall is the lack of staff.

It is difficult to recruit social workers, which has been a problem for kommunernaa for several years now. And when Sweden in the autumn of last year, received so many more unaccompanied youths became additional stress.

But Elisabeth Svedberg also highlights a positive trend.

– National coordinator for children and youth have seen that municipalities have hired more social workers and it seems that keeping the staff even though the number of unaccompanied gone down, she says.

Maya Abdullah
maya.abdullah@sverigesradio.se