2020-01-01 / peer review
Nordisk socialrättslig tidskrift, 26-26.2020 (fulltext tillgänglig)
Abstract:
Children placed in family home care are vulnerable and exposed. A central question is who is responsible for children not being exposed to illegal discrimination during the different phases of placement. This is especially important considering the increased role for private actors inside care within the social welfare system. Private actors (consultants) are today involved in the investigation of the need for placement of children, supplying family homes to the social services, and as administrative and professional support to these homes when they take children into their care. The article investigates 1) the actors and their legal regulation in Swedish family home care, and 2) questions of responsibility in relation to the prohibition of discrimination in Chapter 2 Section 13 of the Swedish Discrimination Act. The study uses a combination of administrative law, private law, and discrimination law analysis. The results are that 1) there is a risk of gaps in the responsibility between public and private actors, 2) the private actors (consultants) that aids the social services during the investigation, placement, and execution of placement in family homes have a central role, but no formal responsibility for the prohibition against illegal discrimination. The area requires further studies, especially concerning the contracts between public and private actors. Reforms might also be necessary in order to adapt the current rules based on how the concrete activity of social childcare works in practice.