Örebro parties clash over social services child removal scandal

Criticism of Örebro’s social services over the handling of several children taken into care has become a major issue in the election campaign, SVT News reports. Two opposition parties are accusing the governing majority of failing to address serious shortcomings.

Two external consultancy reports found serious problems in more cases than the widely reported cases involving eight-year-old “Elsa” and Malin’s son “Leo”. The reports found, among other things, that the municipality had breached the Social Services Act, which requires care decisions to be made in the child’s best interests.

The consultants identified shortcomings in management and leadership. The reports were completed in March but were never formally registered or communicated to the public or municipal politicians.

The Christian Democrats say the municipal leadership is shifting responsibility onto officials. The party says politicians should instead take responsibility and apologise to the families affected.

“We demand a complete review and transparency on this issue,” said Susanne Lindholm Henningsson of the Christian Democrats.

The governing parties, the Moderates, Centre Party and Social Democrats, want to wait until all the external investigations are complete before deciding what measures may be needed.

“It is clearly serious, but we want to await these other reviews,” said municipal commissioner Jimmy Nordengren of the Centre Party.

The Christian Democrats and Örebropartiet have made the social services shortcomings a central campaign issue and believe public anger over the revelations could affect the election result.

“We are constantly contacted by people who thank us for lifting the lid and pointing out what is wrong,” said opposition councillor Susanne Lindholm Henningsson.

Örebropartiet is calling for all decisions to take children into care to be reviewed again. Party leader Marcus Allard said all parties should understand the seriousness of the issue rather than use it for political gain, although he added that the controversy might benefit his party.

Further investigations are under way, including reviews of records in the cases involving Malin’s “Leo” and “Elsa”, as well as investigations into Lex Sarah reports and police investigations involving social services staff.

A partial review of foster care in Örebro said children risk being kept in care longer than necessary, not being adequately seen or heard, and losing contact with parents and wider networks. It also said that inadequate follow-up and reassessment could result in care being guided more by the system’s procedures than by the child’s actual needs.

The review identified governance and leadership as a central explanatory pattern, citing unclear assessment criteria, weak conflict management, insufficient methodological support and vacancies that had not been handled predictably. It said organisational changes had in several cases been introduced without adequate implementation or follow-up.