SOU, Alm.del - 2008-09 - Endeligt svar på spørgsmål 456: Spm. om redegørelse for de gældende regler vedrørende anbringelse af børn med handicap i henholdsvis Finland, Norge og Sverige, til indenrigs- og socialministeren

Svar:I forlængelse af det foreløbige svar på dette spørgsmål samt på spørgsmål457 og 458 dateret den 25. juni 2009 kan det oplyses, at Indenrigs- og Soci-alministeriet nu har modtaget udtalelser fra Danmarks ambassade i Sverigebaseret på en samtale med det svenske Socialdepartement, fra det finskeSocial og Sundhedsministerium og fra det norske Helse- og Omsorgsdepar-tement. De modtagne udtalelser, som er gengivet nedenfor, udgør det ende-lige svar på nærværende spørgsmål samt på spørgsmål 457 og 458 (SOUAlm. del).Danmarks ambassade i Sverige har oplyst følgende:”I svensk lovgivning kan børn med handicap anbringes udenfor hjemmet.Dette kan både ske i en plejefamilie eller i en bolig, der opretholder en særligservice for pågældende. Anbringelsen har hjemmel i ”Loven om støtte ogservice for handicappede” (LSS) § 9 (1993:387).

Hvis handicappede børn er socialt udsatte gælder samme lov som for ”nor-male” børn, der er udsatte. De kan således blive tvangsfjernet på sammevilkår. Deres handicap giver ingen særstatus.Dette kan enten ske frivilligt, med hjemmel i Socialtjänstlagen (2001: 453),eller i ”Loven om behandling af unge” (LVU, (1990:53)). Anbringelse jf. sidst-nævnte lov kan ske i tilfælde af fysisk eller psykisk mishandling, usømmeligudnyttelse, brist i omsorg eller andre forhold i hjemmet, der medfører enbetydelig risiko for, at den unges helbred eller udvikling skades. Endviderekan anbringelse ske, hvis den unge selv udsætter sit helbred og udvikling forskader i form af misbrug af afhængighedsdannende stoffer, kriminel virk-somhed eller anden socialt nedbrydende adfærd. (LVU § 2 og 3).I tilfælde af anbringelse, registreres og dokumenteres dette med hjemmel iLVU og Socialtjänstlagen, hos de sociale myndigheder. Dokumentation afanbringelse beskriver barnets anbringelsesvilkår og status. Registreringen afhandicappede eller socialt udsatte børn adskiller sig ikke fra den almindeligeregistrering.Det er principielt forskellige love, der træder i kraft ved de forskellige om-stændigheder. Handicappede børn, der er socialt udsatte, betragtes dogligestillet med ”normale” børn, der er socialt udsatte.”Det finske Social- og Sundhedsministerium har oplyst følgende:”An explanation of the current rules concerning the placement of childrenwith handicap in Finland, including whether and how the rules differ, if theplacement is exclusively due to the child's handicap, or if the placement isdue both to the child's handicap and the child being socially exposed.According to the section 6 in the Constitution of Finland 1 (731/1999) every-one is equal before the law.No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from otherpersons for instance on the ground of disability, children shall be treatedequally and as individuals and they shall be allowed to influence matterspertaining to themselves to a degree corresponding to their level of devel-opment.The children with disabilities are treated equally with any other children. Thecurrent rules concerning the placement of children with handicap are primar-ily the Child Welfare Act 2 (417/2007) and as a secondary IntellectuallyDisabled Act 3 (519/1977).According to the section 2 in the Child Welfare Act the primary responsibilityfor a child's wellbeing rests with the child's parents and other custodians.The most of the children with different kind of disabilities live with their par-ents. Disability services are covered by a variety of legislation - on disability

services, rehabilitation, the Social Insurance Institution and concerning acci-dent and motor vehicle insurance, and on services and support based ondisability. It is a duty of a municipality to take care of the families with dis-abled children and take to the families the services and support they are inneed because of a child's disability so that the disabled children are able tostay with their families and the families can lead a normal family life. In casethat the services are not enough or not suitable in accordance with the pri-mary laws (like Social Welfare Act 4 710/1982, Child Day Care Act 536/1973, Family Caring Act 6 937/2005), a municipal body responsible forsocial services has to organize the services for the family at home in accor-dance with secondary laws like so called Disability Service Act 7 380/1987and if a child has developmental disabilities, so called the Intellectually Dis-abled Act.Into the Disability Service Act there will be some reforms to become intooperation on the 1st of September 2009. This reform will improve possibili-ties for severely disabled persons to lead life equally with other citizens - andchildren as well to live with their own families equally with other children(among others personal assistance and the secondary position of Intellectu-ally Disabled Act to the Disability Service Act).'"Family care" is a type of services, which is given by the municipal bodyresponsible for social services as a social service under the Social Care Actor as an open welfare and substitute family care as a short or long term un-der the Child Welfare Act. Family care' means the provision of care, up-bringing or other 24-hour attendance in the case of persons in a privatehome other than their own. The aim of family care is to give the personscared for an opportunity for family-like care and close human relationshipsand to promote their basic social security and social development. Familycare is provided in the case of persons who are not considered to need insti-tutional care and who cannot be expediently provided with care, upbringingor other attendance in their own home or by making use of other welfare andhealth care services.Family care can be given for a child, for a youngster, for a person with physi-cal or intellectual disability, for a chronically ill person, for a person with men-tal disturbance or for an elderly person.Children with different kind of disabilities, if they are in need of substitutecare, are placed into a family care, most of them under the Child WelfareAct.Yet the most of the children with intellectual disabilities are placed into afamily care mainly according to the Intellectually Disabled Act.There is a system of central institutes of living and care for intellectually dis-abled persons under the Intellectually Disabled Act. The removal of this sys-tem is going on. The placements of severely intellectually disabled children

into these institutes are decreasing. In 2007 there where 220 children livingin the central institutes. The target is to close down the institutional care forchildren and support their possibilities to a family life by giving servicesenough for the families and substitute families.About the preconditions for involuntary special care it is enacted in the sec-tion 32 of the Intellectually Disabled Act, that the special care can be giveninvoluntarily and if there are no other enactments in the Child Welfare Act,solely for such a person for whom the care can not be organized otherwiseand there is a reason to suppose that he/she will be in mortal or health dan-ger without the care. There is going on an integration of the two disabilitylaws and this section 32 will be removed from the disability laws. There willbe a new law concerning all kind of involuntary custodies and taking consid-eration of human rights.In that case a disabled child is in a need of the child welfare because ofhis/her social circumstances and the basis for care will be fulfilled, theplacement will be done under the Child Welfare Act.An explanation of whether and how the registration of the placement ofhandicapped children in Finland differs, depending on whether the place-ment is solely due to the child's handicap, or due to both a handicap andsocial circumstances.The processing of sensitive data is prohibited in the Personal Data Act 8(523/1999). Personal data are deemed to be sensitive, if they relate for in-stance to or are intended to relate to the state of health, illness or handicapof a person or the treatment or other comparable measures directed at theperson (section 11).The prohibition in section 11 does not prevent processing of data for in-stance where the data subject has given an express consent; processing ofdata where based on the provisions of an Act or necessary for compliancewith an obligation to which the controller is subject directly by virtue of anAct; processing of data for purposes of historical, scientific or statistical re-search; a social welfare authority or another authority, institution or privateproducer of social services granting social welfare benefits from processingdata collected in the course of their operations and relating to the social wel-fare needs of the data subject or the benefits, support or other social welfareassistance received by the person or otherwise indispensable for the welfareof the data subject; or processing of data where the Data Protection Boardhas issued a permission for the same, as provided in section 43(2).According to the section 25 in Child Welfare Act, the municipal body respon-sible for social services must keep a register of child welfare notificationsand their content. According to the section 33 of the same act, child welfareworkers must note down all information affecting the arrangement of thechild welfare measures needed by the child or young person in the docu-

ments concerning the child or young person, starting with the initiation ofproceedings in the child welfare case referred to in section 26(1), and allinformation necessary for planning, implementing and monitoring the meas-ures.According to the Customers' Status and Rights in Social Services Act 9(812/2000) it is obliged to lay a plan of services, care, rehabilitation or otherfor a customer to organize the services. The plan is obliged to lay in unisonwith the customer, in the case of a child, with his/her parents or guardian.To a customer it is obliged to give a possibility to be part and to contribute tothe planning and the implementation of his/her services. (7 §, 8§)A handicap makes always a child vulnerable. The municipalities are inde-pendent units and they make their own decisions and organize the service intheir own way by enforcing the laws to suit the regional characteristics.There are a few reform schools for children with disabilities or disturbs, if achild is in the need of care because of his own behaviour. There are notstatistics of placements of disabled children, but in a research of Tarja Heino* in 2007 was found out that a physical illness or disability of a child as areason to become a customer into the child care figured the situation "muchor very much" only in 10 %.If a disabled child must be taken into care and a substitute care must beprovided for him/her by the municipal body, which is responsible for socialservices, he/she will be treated according to the Child Welfare Act as anyother children. If this care is not enough or not suitable because of the dis-ability of a child services will be given also according to disability and othersocial laws. The municipal body responsible for social service is obliged after1st of Sebtember 2009 to lay a service plan for disabled persons. All theservices (like housing, personal assistance, transport services) will be takento the substitute family, where the child is living.If there is no substitute family for a disabled child, he/she will be placed in anordinary children's home.”Det norske Helse- og Omsorgsdepartement har oplyst følgende:”I henhold til kommunehelsetjenesteloven og sosialtjenesteloven skalkommunen sørge for nødvendige helse- og omsorgstjenester til de som boreller midlertidig oppholder seg i kommunen uavhengig av alder og diagnose.Tildeling og organisering av tjenester er således et kommunalt ansvar, ogorganiseringen av tjenestetilbudet vil derfor kunne variere både innad ogmellom kommuner. Lovverket pålegger kommunene å ha som overordnedemål å bidra til økt likeverd og likestilling, samt å bidra til at den enkelteinnbygger får mulighet til å leve og bo selvstendig. Den som har behov forbistand til å mestre dagliglivets gjøremål, har krav på å få utredet sine

I henhold til sosialtjenesteloven § 4-2 bokstav d, jf. § 4-3, skal kommunentilby bolig med heldøgns omsorgstjenester til dem som har behov for det pågrunn av funksjonshemming, alder eller andre årsaker. For barn vil detteomfatte boliger for barn med store funksjonshemninger (barnebolig),herunder tilbud om avlastning der barnet vanligvis bor sammen med sineforeldre.Formålet med lov om barneverntjenester er å sikre at barn og unge somlever under forhold som kan skade deres helse og utvikling, får nødvendighjelp og omsorg til rett tid, og bidra til at barn og unge får tryggeoppvekstvilkår, jf. lovens § 1-1.Etter barnevernloven kapittel 4 kan flere tiltak, herunder plass i institusjon,iverksettes for barn med alvorlige atferdsvansker eller der foreldrene ikkekan gi tilstrekkelig omsorg.Grensen mellom tiltak for barn med funksjonshemninger etter helse- ogsosiallovgivningen og barnevernlovgivningen er ikke like klar i alle tilfeller,men må avgjøres av kommunen etter en konkret, faglig vurdering i detenkelte tilfelle. Når det gjelder spørsmålet om registrering, vil tiltak registresetter hvilket lovverk tiltaket iverksettes etter.”Karen Ellemann/ Morten Starch Lauritsen