Since 2022, incidents of absconding have decreased by 68 percent. According to the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS), this is due to improved safety awareness among employees, a more robust organization at the homes, and expanded powers.
Among those who absconded in 2025, only two were sentenced to closed youth care. In these cases, it was not a matter of escape, but of not returning on time from an unsupervised stay outside. The other 133 who absconded or escaped were cared for under the Youth Care Act (LVU) and were placed by the municipalities.
The decrease is happening at the same time as more people are receiving care within SiS. At the turn of the year, there were 680 children and young people, of whom just under 260 had been convicted of a crime.
