ALPHA. Demokratiskolan.se is a PROTOTYPE · Content review in progress
Demokratiskolan
The Vulnerable groups card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 124 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaWelfare & health
  • Centre of gravityThe municipality
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe municipal election
Welfare & health

Vulnerable groups

People on the fringes

Homelessness, addiction, violence in close relationships, children at risk: the responsibility for society's most vulnerable lies closer to you than many think. The social services in your municipality do the heavy work, with the central government's laws behind them and healthcare at their side. How much they can manage is decided in the municipal election.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · social services, protection & housing · approx 50 %
  • Region · psychiatry & addiction care · approx 15 %
  • State · laws, oversight & migration · approx 30 %
  • EU · asylum rules & funds · approx 5 %

The social services are municipal and carry the main responsibility in everyday life. The central government sets the laws and is responsible for asylum reception.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe social services · centre of gravity
The regionThe care
Central governmentThe laws & oversight
Who decides?
The social welfare committee and the social services' caseworkers, often in special units for children, addiction and violence.
The healthcare committee, addiction care and psychiatry.
The Riksdag, the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), IVO, the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) and the Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården).
What do they decide?
Support and protection for children, victims of violence and people in homelessness or addiction: protected housing, contact persons, treatment.
Addiction care, psychiatry and care for victims of violence. Shares responsibility for addiction care with the municipality.
The social services act, the compulsory-care laws LVU and LVM, asylum reception and the oversight of social services and homes.
Where are decisions made?
With the social services. Urgent cases are also received outside office hours through the social services' emergency service.
In the regional council and in the care services.
In the Riksdag and at the agencies. IVO reviews the social services.
Who pays?
The municipal tax.
The regional tax.
Central government grants to the municipalities and the whole of asylum reception.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election A report of concern, a citizen's proposal (medborgarförslag), involvement in associations that meet the vulnerable.
Regional election The patients' committee, email to the committee's politicians.
General election A referral response (remiss) on draft legislation, a complaint to IVO.
EUThe EU's asylum and migration rules govern who gets protection, and EU funds support social work. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case A report of concern is taken care of
  1. State

    The law requires us to react

    The social services act gives the municipality the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that children are not at risk. Staff in school, healthcare and preschool are obliged to report concern, and anyone may do so.

    Point of influence

    You can always make a report of concern to the social services, even anonymously. The general election steers the law.

  2. Municipality

    The report comes in

    The social services immediately make a protection assessment: does the child need protection now? After that, within fourteen days it is decided whether an investigation should begin.

  3. Municipality

    The investigation is carried out

    An investigation should as a rule be finished within four months. The social workers talk with the child, the parents and the school and propose support, often voluntary measures such as family treatment or a contact family.

    Point of influence

    The municipal election decides the social services' resources and how many cases each caseworker carries.

  4. StateMunicipality

    If voluntary measures are not enough

    In serious danger the social welfare committee can apply for care under LVU. That decision is not made by the municipality alone: it is decided by the administrative court (förvaltningsrätt), a state court.

    Point of influence

    Compulsory care is always decided in court, with the right to a public legal representative. Complaints about the social services go to IVO.

  5. Your everyday life

    An adult who notices

    For a child, a single report can be the difference between being alone and getting help. The first thread of the safety net is often a neighbour, a coach or a teacher who dares.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. What would make you file a report of concern, and what would hold you back?

  2. Homelessness looks different in different municipalities. Whose responsibility is it that no one sleeps outside?

  3. How much compulsion may society use to protect someone from themselves?

  4. What role do associations, faith communities and volunteers play where the agencies do not reach?

  5. How does your municipality's budget show which vulnerable groups are prioritised?

Glossary

Orosanmälan
A report to the social services when you suspect that a child is at risk. Anyone may report.
LVU
The act with special provisions on the care of young people: compulsory care of children, decided by a court.
LVM
The act on the care of addicts: compulsory care of adults in life-threatening addiction, decided by a court.
Socialjour
The social services' readiness for urgent cases in the evenings, at night and on weekends.
Kontaktfamilj
A voluntary measure where a child regularly stays with another family as support.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.