Social services including care for older people

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, together with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, has invited heads of state or government from EU Member States, as well as over 30 different organisations and actors, to attend the Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth in Gothenburg on 17 November 2017. More than 180 participants have been invited to the summit.

In recent years, the number of EU citizens who are temporarily in Sweden has risen. These people are in a vulnerable situation. Most of those who come to Sweden to beg do so of their own volition. But organised crime with a link to begging is also prevalent, such as trafficking in human beings and extortion.

It is two years since Romania and Sweden signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation and the exchange of knowledge about children’s rights, gender equality and social welfare.

On 17 November 2016, the Swedish Government decided on the written communication ‘Power, goals and agency – a feminist policy for a gender-equal future’ (Govt Comm. 2016/17:10). In the communication, the Government presents the focus of gender equality policy with a new goal structure, a gender equality agency and a ten-year national strategy to prevent and combat men’s violence against women.

Health and social care of elderly women and men is a central part of welfare policy and affects many people.

The reception of large numbers of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in 2015 involved a considerable undertaking on the part of the municipalities to achieve a good long-term system of reception in which account is taken of children’s rights. Although the number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Sweden has decreased, Sweden will probably receive a large number of unaccompanied girls and boys in coming years too.

The Government has tasked the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society with creating a digital platform containing information in relevant languages about health and gender equality for newly arrived children and young people. The assignment – for which SEK 5 million has been set aside – will be conducted in collaboration with the internet-based youth clinic UMO.

Men in all social groups and age groups use physical, psychological and sexual violence against women. And it is not decreasing, writes Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality Åsa Regnér in an opinion piece. It is essential that newly arrived girls and boys have access to a good introduction to Swedish society, with knowledge about our society and values as important elements. This of course includes sex and relationship education.

On instructions from the Government, the National Board of Health and Welfare and the Ombudsman for Children in Sweden have developed a national website containing information tailored to children and young people about social services and what social services can offer children and young people in need of support and protection.

The Swedish Agency for Health and Care Services Analysis is to survey and analyse homes for care or residence, as well as foster homes and emergency foster homes providing support from advisers. The Agency is conducting this work from the perspective of child protection and the rights of the child. Particular attention is to be given to the quality and costs of care. This was decided by the Government on 11 February.