The agreement has been leaked: This is how Mette Frederiksen's big plan for vulnerable children ends

The government today presents a broad political agreement that will raise the children and social area by almost 800 million kroner.

AUTOMATIC READING

Jens Dresling

Photo: Jens Dresling

DENMARKMAY 11, 2021 AT 10.30

MADS HØRKILDE

Journalist

READ THE ARTICLE LATER

FOR SUBSCRIBERS

The article continues after the ad

Advertisement

Minister of Social Affairs and the Elderly Astrid Krag (S) presents later today a new political agreement that has been dubbed 'The Children First'.

This is the experience of Politiken, which has seen the finished agreement text.

The parties to the agreement have agreed to set aside DKK 721.8 million annually for a number of initiatives.

FACTS

The seven central themes

The text of the agreement states that the parties to the agreement agree on seven key issues that the agreement addresses. The seven are:

Better and earlier efforts for vulnerable children and families

Fewer shifts and more stability

The law of the child - more rights for the children

Better quality in the placements

Better quality in case processing and strengthened legal certainty

Good into adulthood

From agreement to reality

In a much-discussed and debated New Year's speech, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen put the children in focus when, at the beginning of 2020, she dedicated almost her entire speech to the children in particular. A year later, Minister of Social Affairs and the Elderly Astrid Krag presented the government's bid for a boost to the children and social area.

The article continues after the ad

More were to be placed outside the home earlier, and it should be easier for the state to decide whether a child should be forcibly adopted before birth. A proposal that provoked much debate.

However, the latter is not included in the final agreement. Instead, it appears from the text of the agreement that the parties have agreed that "for the sake of the best interests of the child, the municipality is obliged to always consider the adoption of newborns placed at birth".

The parties also agree on a Children's Act, which will ensure "more rights for children", including consolidating the rules for support for vulnerable children under a single law, so that it applies to all children, regardless of whether their support needs are based on social problems or a disability. .

"Better quality in placements"

The parties to the agreement agree on a reform of the care area, which means that the parties want to improve the conditions for Danish foster families.

GET MORE INSPIRATION FOR YOUR FOOD LIFE

Sign up for our food newsletter and get recipes from Denmark's best food writers, guides, reviews and the latest trends on everything that moves on the food front.

arundohle@gmail.com

Sign up

"This will be done through the establishment of new foster family centers with a focus on the conditions of the foster families," the agreement states.

A working group is set up with the aim of looking at a number of topics, such as 'a more uniform, nationwide remuneration model', 'possibility of pension scheme', 'extended notice of termination' and 'continuing education and supervision'.

Broad agreement

The Liberal Party has previously been out and proposed that municipalities can be placed under administration if they do not live up to the law in the area of ??children and families. However, this is not a proposal that has been included in the final agreement.

Instead, the Liberal Party has fulfilled its desire for more money for the establishment of family houses. Where in the government's early proposals 100 million kroner had been set aside, in the final agreement approximately 300 million kroner has been set aside for it.

The Unity List was just as out there proposing a scheme where funds are set aside for all schools and institutions to have a permanent social worker attached. The unit list proposal is not included in the final agreement text.

Instead, funds have been set aside for "the introduction of a legal requirement that the municipalities must ensure professional sparring, and there must therefore be two caseworkers in difficult and heavy cases". However, neither the budget nor the text of the agreement states how such a legal requirement should work in practice. In 2020, the National Board of Appeal calculated that in 66 per cent of the cases they measured, the time limit prescribed by law for the social workers to stay within when conducting a pediatric examination was exceeded.

The agreement is set to become a broad political agreement. All of the parliamentary parties have been involved in the negotiations right up to the last, but sources tell Politiken that Nye Borgerlige and Dansk Folkeparti are still considering whether they will join the agreement. Both parties have on several occasions problematized that the government has had a desire for more to be placed.

The agreement is expected to be finally presented at a press conference later today.

.