The Social Welfare Committee in Linköping Municipality is severely criticised for requesting police assistance pursuant to the Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act without legal grounds for doing so, and for its processing when assisting the Parliamentary Ombudsman in his investigation

Summary of the decision: When planning a home visit to determine whether a child was in need of immediate protection, the Social Welfare Committee in Linköping Municipality sent a request for assistance to the Swedish Police Authority. As grounds, the committee referred to Section 43(2) of the Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (SFS 1990:52), which states that the Swedish Police Authority shall provide assistance with the enforcement of decisions to detain or take a child into care pursuant to the Act. However, at the time the request for police assistance was sent, no such decision had been made concerning the child in question.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman holds that the committee is deserving of severe criticism for requesting police assistance pursuant to Section 43 of the Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act without legal grounds for doing so. The criticism extends to shortcomings in documentation in the case and to the fact that one of the committee’s statements to the Parliamentary Ombudsman contained ambiguities and inaccuracies.