The Swedish Social Services Act is based on some basic principles:
The principle of proximity – the municipality where the person lives is responsible for the care and support.
Voluntariness and self-determination – support should be provided as far as possible in agreement with the individual.
A holistic approach – social services should look at the whole person’s situation.
Equal treatment – everyone should be treated equally and have access to support according to need.
The purpose of the new law (2025:400) is, among other things, to:
- promote preventive measures
- increase availability of support
- strengthen the children’s perspective
- improve collaboration between different actors
- make it easier to provide early interventions without extensive investigation
The new law will also make social services more knowledge-based and flexible.
Individual needs at the center
A central part of the Social Services Act is that support shall be given after an individual needs assessment. Those who apply for support therefore receive an assessment in which the social services assess what interventions are needed. When it comes to addiction, the social services shall actively work to prevent and combat alcohol and drug abuse and offer care and support to people who need help.
The child’s perspective
According to the Social Services Act, social services must work particularly to ensure that children and young people grow up in safe and good conditions. When there is abuse or addiction in the family, social services must pay attention to how children are affected and offer support. The Act also emphasizes that the best interests of the child must be decisive in decisions concerning children.
Social services also have a responsibility to pay attention to children as relatives when a parent has substance abuse problems. Digital follow-up and treatment support can help the profession to identify risks in the family situation earlier and to follow up on treatment efforts, as well as to create better coordination between care and social services.
This can, in turn, contribute to children receiving support earlier, which is a central goal of the Social Services Act.
When a parent has problems with alcohol or drugs, this can affect the child’s safety and upbringing environment. Social services should therefore work to prevent and combat addiction among children and young people as well as in their families.
How Previct Care can support work under the Social Services Act
The Social Services Act requires municipalities to prevent and counteract the abuse of alcohol and other addictive substances and to offer support and treatment to people with addiction problems (SoL Chapter 5, Section 9).
Digital tools can play an important role in this work. Previct Care is a digital solution that can support social services and other healthcare providers in the work of identifying, following up and treating alcohol and drug-related problems. By combining digital monitoring and objective measurement methods, the service can contribute to the early detection of both risky use and relapse and provide better opportunities for follow-up of treatment interventions. Digital tools provide data-based decision support for healthcare and social services and at the same time provide increased support and motivation for the individual.
This can strengthen the social services’ ability to work both preventively and therapeutically, which is central to the Social Services Act’s mission. At the same time, digital support tools can contribute to increased continuity in care and follow-up, which is important for people with addiction problems to receive long-term support. Previct Care does not replace the work of social services, but can function as enhanced support in the treatment and follow-up process.
Summary
Based on the new Social Services Act, digital support tools such as Previct Care can contribute to several of the law’s central goals:
- prevent and counteract addiction
- strengthen early intervention
- work knowledge-based
- protect children and promote the best interests of the child
By supporting treatment and follow-up with parents and at the same time providing support for children, Previct Care can indirectly contribute to creating more stable family situations, reducing the risk of relapse into addiction and providing better conditions for a safe growing environment for children.
Digital follow-up can also give social services a better opportunity to monitor the development of treatment efforts and identify needs for support in the family. Previct Care does not replace the work of social services, but can function as reinforced support in treatment, follow-up and preventive efforts within both addiction care and family support.
Summary from: Riksdagen.se