Comparability

Comparability - geographical

Similar statistics are compiled in many other countries. However, the statistics are not subject to any EU regulation or compiled in accordance with other international guidelines. Therefore, these statistics can be compared internationally, but not necessarily directly.

Comparability over time

The statistics have existed since 1977, but due to legislative changes in 1985, 1993, 2006 and 2019, respectively, the statistics are not directly comparable throughout the whole period. Since the 1st of January 2018, the statistics and the collection of data are based on the Executive Order on Data Transmission in the Social Area (current). The Executive Order is updated semi-annually and changes in regulations can thus occur every half year.

Following the changes of the State Social Support Act in January 1985, legal regulations, regarding placements of persons in 24-hour stay, were moved to regular legislation on placements in out-of-home care. (i.e. the 24-hour stay was henceforth included as part of the sections on placement in out-of-home care with or without the consent of the parent/s).

From January 1993, changes in legislation resulted in some forms of social support, which were previously considered as being a part of placement in out-of-home care procedures, being moved to the group of preventive measures. At the same time, a number of new preventive measures were introduced. In 2006, many simultaneous changes regarding data transmission and reporting - such as local government reform, a reform of the out-of-home care policy, and an introduction of new method for data reporting - contributed to a significant data breach and caused difficulties with regards to the quality of reported data.

In the period between 2019 and 2020, there has been a change in the categorization of foster families. These have been changed to common, reinforced and specialized foster families. The change has, accordingly, contributed to a decrease in the number of placements in generally approved foster families.

From 2020 and onwards, data regarding placements due to juvenile delinquency are also gathered.

The municipalities have not indicated that data regarding placements of children in out-of-home care for the period 2020-2021 are affected by the special circumstances that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From 2024 initiations of out-of-home care are reported pursuant to the Child’s Act. Upon the entry into force of the Child’s Act, ongoing placements and residential stays continue under the legal basis of the original decision and are only transferred to the Child’s Act when a new decision is made pursuant to the legal basis of the Child’s Act, cf. Section 213 of the Child’s Act.

Coherence - cross domain

The statistics are related to statistics about preventive measures for children and young people, as the family and the child/young person must be offered relief measures before the municipality initiates a procedure to place the child or young in out-of-home care. The statistics are also related to statistics on notifications of concern for children and young people, as a notification can occur before a child is placed in out-of-home care.

Coherence - internal

Reported data from different sources usually follow the same reporting forms. Changes in the forms may result in differences as a result of the suppliers not being able to implement the changes at the same time. During these transition periods, the response categories from the old forms will be mapped to the new categories.