Children and young people who are placed in emergency care outside the home constitute a vulnerable group. They have often been removed from their familiar environment at very short notice and may not know where they are going to be staying in the long term, who is going to take care of them or where they will go to daycare or school.

 As the theme for his monitoring visits to institutions for children in 2026, the Ombudsman will be looking into the social facilities that the municipalities use when there is a need for placing a child or young person in emergency care.

The Ombudsman will be visiting both facilities that have been approved by the social supervision authorities and non-approved facilities in which the municipalities can place a child or young person for up to six weeks according to the current rules.

‘Children and young people in emergency care are in a situation where their life will often be turned upside down and which must be seen as both insecure and uncertain. In my monitoring visits this year, I will be examining the settings that children and young people in emergency care find themselves in and whether they are treated with dignity and consideration and in accordance with their rights’, says Parliamentary Ombudsman Christian Britten Lundblad.

In connection with the monitoring visits, the Ombudsman will focus on, among other things, how children and young people in emergency care retain their relationship with their parents and network and overall maintain as normal an everyday life as possible. The Ombudsman will also focus on how it is ensured that the children and young people move forward from the emergency placement in a positive way.

The monitoring visits are carried out in cooperation with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture.

When the monitoring year is over, the Ombudsman will summarise the most significant results in a thematic report.

Further information:

Director of International Relations Klavs Kinnerup Hede, kkh@ombudsmanden.dk