Who Are the Backa barnen? New Knowledge on Early and Coordinated Support for Children and Young People

All children have the right to support at the right time. Under the new Social Services Act, social services must work preventively, and early support can matter greatly for children's well-being and for society. Krokom Municipality is introducing Backa barnet from autumn 2026 with the aim of helping all children to be safe, have equal opportunities to develop and receive support in time. According to the municipality, the core idea is to give all children the best possible start in life by always putting children's needs and rights first.

Backa barnet is a collaboration model in which schools, social services, health care and the police work together to notice children and young people who may need support early and to coordinate the support around them. The model is based on Scotland's Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC). Participation is voluntary: guardians consent to the agencies sharing information so that the child's needs and the right support can be assessed jointly.

What do we want to know?

Little is known about which households take part in complex welfare programmes, how they are recruited, and whether the programmes reach the children and families who could benefit from the support. The project therefore examines:

1. How are participants recruited to Backa barnet?
2. What circumstances do the participating households have?
3. What support does participation lead to, and what does this tell us about following up on the best interests of the child?

We examine how professionals in the model perceive the collaboration: their knowledge of its purpose and ways of working, and how well it functions.

How the study is carried out

The project has two parts. The first is based on individual- and household-level register data from the municipality, used to examine participation. We compare participants in Backa barnet with one or more comparison groups. Data are pseudonymised, results are presented so that no individual can be identified, and the data collection will undergo ethical review. The second part is a survey of practitioners working with Backa barnet in schools, social services, health care and the police, examining their perceptions of the collaboration model.

Benefits and results

The municipality gains knowledge of how recruitment works and whether the programme reaches the children and families who could benefit from early support, which can strengthen continued implementation. The results are relevant to other municipalities considering the model, and the project lays the groundwork for future studies of the programme's long-term effects.

For research, the project contributes new empirical knowledge about participation in complex welfare programmes, where the knowledge base is limited. Previous research on Backa barnet and similar models has mainly concerned implementation and professionals' experiences. This project complements it with register data showing which households reach the programme and what early support it leads to.

We report regularly to the municipality and the Backa barnet steering group, and will publish the results in a scientific article and a Swedish-language text for practitioners and decision-makers.