Child protection in a family-service organisation — What is the outcome for maltreated children?

This study was conducted to increase the knowledge of what characterises the child-protection process in family-service organisations. A total of 1570 (regarding 1051 children) reports made to Social Services in one municipality during 1 year were followed to a final decision. A five-year follow-up study was conducted. There were 651 (41%) of the reports that were not investigated, 84% of the reports filed were judged not to demonstrate child maltreatment. The most usual cluster consisted of children that had committed a crime/offence when they were between 13 and 18 years old (314/1051–30%). The social worker reported 38% of the reports that regarded sexual or physical abuse to the police. Comparing the filtering pattern with the results from a study conducted in England, the family-service organisation does not seem to lead to the provision of services for a greater percentage of children than does a distinctive child-protection system. In the five-year follow-up period there were 61% of the children that were or had been targeted for an intervention or an investigation. This study raises questions about child protection in Sweden and emphasises the need for the system to be studied further.