Social services step by step

How it starts

Children and parents can contact EN Infobubbla soc themselves to ask for help. If the child is over 15 years old and makes an application, social services must start an assessment process. The same thing applies if the parents make an application.

Anyone who suspects that a child is suffering from some form of mistreatment can make a EN Infobubbla orosanmälan to social services.

EN Infobubbla En del vuxna som arbetar med barn must make such a report.

If the child is in urgent need of protection, social services must take action immediately. In that case, they must also start an assessment process. If the child does not need protection immediately, social services have 14 days to decide if they are going to start an assessment process.

Social services make an assessment

If social services start an assessment process, it is to find out whether the child needs support or protection. It could also be the case that other members of the family need help.

During the assessment process, social services contact adults who can describe the child’s situation. Some examples are people who work at the child’s school or perhaps a sports coach whom the child sees often. The child can suggest which adults social services could talk to.

Social services will also talk to the child and the family about what sort of help would suit them best. Children always have the right to express their views and wishes and social services must listen to them. However, the end result may not always be what the child wants.

The assessment must be completed within four months. Only in EN Infobubbla undantag, can the assessment take longer.

Help from social services

The formal word for help provided by social services is an intervention. Often it’s a matter of talking about ways to improve the situation at home and how the family can work together to sort out the problems.

Examples of interventions are

parents being helped to become better parents
the family is able to talk to someone who works with family support
the child is able to meet other children who have been in a similar situation
the child is given a EN Infobubbla kontaktperson or EN Infobubbla kontaktfamilj as support.

Social services may need the child’s help when planning what interventions the child is to be given. One example could be how often the child is to meet someone who will help him/her. Children always have the right to express their views and wishes and social services must listen to them.

How much the child can be involved will depend on the interventions in question.

Sometimes children and young persons have to live somewhere other than at home in order to be protected or helped. However, that is not so common. This is called being EN Infobubbla placerad.

Children over 15 years of age can decline (say no) to some of social services’ interventions. If the child is under 15 years of age, the parents can decline the help.

Social services’ responsibility when you receive help

When a child receives help from social services, social services are responsible for checking up on how the help is working. The child can also contact their social worker themselves if they want to ask or tell them something.

When children are placed in out-of-home care, social services must follow up carefully that the children’s situation is satisfactory. The social worker must also explain to the children how they can contact her/him.

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