SHIC Case: The Next Generation Of Social Services For Children And Youth

In the spring of 2020, a collaboration was initiated between Hässelby-Vällingby’s district administration, Sweden’s Municipalities and Regions (SKR) and the Social and Health Impact Center (SHIC), with the overall aim of developing a new model for early social support for children and youth in the district.

Many social service offices around the country experience that too few preventive measures are being taken for risk groups – individuals do often receive help only when they have already developed a serious problem. By offering more individualized support in an early phase of a person’s development, negative developments can more effectively be addressed and turned around. In addition to improving conditions for the individual, social services costs can also be reduced as the number of HVB placements is expected to decrease.

In order to succeed with offering more targeted interventions for individuals, close cooperation with civil society is needed, which is one of the objectives of this project. With the help of social outcome contracts, civil society will be able to supplement the social services with initiatives and interventions that do not fall within the social services’ mission. The procurement of these services will be published in the autumn of 2020, allowing implementation of the initiatives by early 2021. SHIC supports the social services in Hässelby/Vällingby in establishing such a contract and is also involved as change and evaluation support.