Today's homes for care and accommodation (hvb) are institutions for children and young people with social problems or for people with addiction problems. But hvb receives low grades from the children and young people who have stayed there, notes the government's special investigator Stefan Holgersson.
The surveys and interviews that have been conducted show that only 65 percent have felt safe in the hvb homes they have been to and only 52 percent think they have been helped. Young people also testify to drugs in the homes and that it has mostly been about storage, not help.
It's quite gloomy reading, says Stefan Holgersson at a press conference.
Different categories
The investigation's proposal is that hvb is replaced with homes for children and young people, for young people up to 20 years. The new homes will be divided into different categories: homes for small children and parents, general homes and specialized homes.
The activities in the new homes will have clear rules about what the care should include, tightened requirements for care and nursing, and rules about competence and staffing. Supervision will be carried out twice a year, not as today once a year. In each unit, a maximum of six children or young people will live, and they will be of the same age.
Peers
We do not want to mix age groups freely, but stay within an age range of three years. We have noticed in the interviews that many younger children can think it's scary if there are older children with problems in the same accommodation, says Stefan Holgersson.
The investigation also proposes tightened requirements for permits. These will be limited to five years at a time.
Today, there are permits that have been in effect since the 1970s, says Stefan Holgersson.
Social Services Minister Camilla Waltersson Grönvall (The Moderate Party) noted at the press conference that a reorganization of youth care is absolutely necessary.
We know what happens if society is not present. Then other forces step in and then those we want to protect the children from win. It simply cannot be that way. Children who are placed in the care of society should get a new start, she says.
Corrected: In an earlier version, Waltersson Grönvall was given the wrong title.
