Each of the district councils in Stockholm has primary responsibility for child and family care and for residents in need. It assists persons who find themselves in difficult circumstances and guarantees them a basic measure of economic security.

All individuals are treated with respect and their specific needs receive necessary consideration. Considerable emphasis is placed on prevention and every effort is made to create a positive, constructive dialogue with families in need or at risk.

Individual and family care

For an early response, individual and family caring services co-operate with mother and child care centres, where advice and support is given to new and expectant parents. Youth reception centres, jointly run by social welfare and medical services, provide advice and support to teenage girls and boys on personal relation matters, contraception, drug issues, etc. The district councils’ social services bear ultimate responsibility for the welfare of individual children. In order to provide the greatest possible support to parents a wide range of services are made available:

• Support groups for single or teenage mothers.
• Parent-training schemes at antenatal and postnatal clinics.
• Family advice centres, where adult relationships can be discussed with trained counsellors and, hopefully, problems resolved.
• Conciliation meetings, for those who have decided to separate, but are unable to agree over the question of child custody.
• Group centres, for instance, for local immigrant groups, where support and advice on child care, living and working in a new society, can be obtained.
• Support families, who look after a single parent’s child on one or two weekends monthly, thus providing the parent, and sometimes even the child, with a short but necessary break.
• Monthly income support/social allowances
  

Persons unable to provide for themselves or their families, and who do not receive any other form of income, can obtain financial assistance in the form of monthly income support or social allowances. Unemployment is the most common reason for single persons or families needing this kind of help. The allowance is designed to cover day-to-day household expenses, rent and necessary expenditure. There are varying rates of support for single persons, married/unmarried couples and parents with children.

The number of households receiving social allowances has increased slightly over the past few years. During 2004, 5.8 percent of the City's residents received economic assistance for a shorter or longer period of time. Four percent of the City's total expenditure is allocated to social allowance costs. 

Social Services Committee and its Administration
Swedenborgsgatan 20
S-106 64 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46-8-508 25 000
E-mail: socialtjanstforvaltningen@saf.stockholm.se

All persons have a fundamental right to medical care, treatment, rehabilitation and medical assistance, and for persons with severe functional impairment this also means the right to such a level of additional support as will enable them to live as normally and independently as possible.

Supporting the disabled

Provision for the disabled in Stockholm has improved steadily over the years. The primary aim of Swedish disability policies is full participation and equality. Recent legislation has further extended the rights of disabled persons, who are to be enabled to live in their normal environment, if they so wish, and there receive the services and support to which they are entitled. An essential component of the Support and Services Act is a severely disabled person’s entitlement to a personal helper, employed either by the City or privately. Additional entitlements include a contact person, home adjustment grants and special housing services. 

Ombudsman for people with disabilities

The City of Stockholm has an ombudsman for people with disabilities. The ombudsman gives support in issues concerning municipal care services and assists people with disabilties in any grievances they may have. Her name is Riitta-Leena Karlsson.

Contact

Riitta-Leena Karlsson
Phone: +46-8-50825610
E-mail: riitta-leena.karlsson@saf.stockholm.se

Read more about the disability policy of Stockholm in the following pdf-document, Disability Policy Programme for the City of Stockholm

Homelessness is both an individual social problem and a structural problem. Lack of housing and jobs are important factors as are substance abuse and mental health problems. The social welfare services in Stockholm can provide homeless people a variety of types of help, all depending on the individual's problems and needs.  In addition to housing, a person who is homeless can need help with substance abuse and mental health treatment, job training programs, financial aid, etc.

The county council is responsible for substance abuse and mental health treatment.  Collaboration between social welfare services and the county council is absolutely necessary in order to give homeless people the comprehensive support many need.  Nongovernmental organizations (NGO), private entrepreneurs and other organizations work in close collaboration with the social welfare office to provide services to homeless people in Stockholm.

Contact

Social Services Committee and its Administration
Swedenborgsgatan 20
S-106 64 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46-8-508 25 000
E-mail: socialtjanstforvaltningen@saf.stockholm.se

The City of Stockholm provides pre-school services to children of working or studying parents, and in cases where the child has an individual need. Families can choose from various types of child care, such as preschools, child minders in their private homes, part-time schooling and open day schools. In Stockholm you are guaranteed child care within three months from the day when your application was submitted.

Child care services were once provided exclusively by the municipality, but are now also provided by co-operatives and private enterprise. Today, 30 percent of all child care services in Stockholm are operated privately.

The ambition with child care is that each child's abilities are taken care of and stimulated to ensure that each one gets the opportunity to express his or her own individuality and skills.

More about pre-schools 

The caring services for elderly in Stockholm enable elderly people to remain in their home environment and there receive the social services and health care they require. Those persons no longer able to be supported at home, due to frailty of age or disability, can obtain other housing where their needs can be met.

About 15 % of the inhabitants in Stockholm are over the age of 65, which means 115,000 persons. Out of these, two of ten have daily help with cooking, shopping, dressing etc. Approximately one out of ten live in some sort of housing for the elderly. All types of housing for the elderly have one thing in common; the individual pays rent and a fee for support, care and food. Anyone who wishes to have his or her own room is entitled to this.

Contact

Elderly Services Administration
Phone: + 46 8-508 36 200
Fax: +46 8-508 36 248
E-mail: aldreforvaltningen@aldre.stockholm.se

Ombudsman for the elderly

The City of Stockholm has an ombudsman for the elderly. The ombudsman gives support in issues concerning municipal care services and assists the elderly in any grievances they may have. The ombudsman for the elderly is Lotta Burénius.

Lotta Burénius:
Phone: +46-8-508 36 210
Fax: +46-8-508 36 248
E-mail: aldreombudsmannen@aldre.stockholm.se

Anyone who received a residence permit have the right to participate in the district administrations introduction programs. The program lasts for 18 months but can be extended to 24 months, if a family member arrives during the introductory period.

Every person gets an individual program and are entitled to a financial assistance if it is needed. The compensation is tied to the participation in the induction program.

During the introductory period, all refugees have the right to study Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), but the overall objective of the introduction is to get a job. The Job Plazas is assisting in finding jobs.