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Statistical processing

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Welfare and Health, Social Statistics.
Bente Ottosen
+45 3917 3102

bbo@dst.dk

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Children and young persons placed outside own home

Data for these statistics are continually collected from the administrative municipalities. The collected data is then subjected to a meticulous validation process in cooperation with the municipalities. All of the municipalities receive feedback sheets, representing the scope and nature of the reported data, which need to be approved by the municipalities. Data is subsequently gathered in an incident register which forms the basis for a creation of a progress register and a status/stock register.

Source data

Data stem from municipalities' digital systems used for the administration of cases regarding children and young people. In addition, the municipalities can upload data through a webplatform provided by Statistics Denmark. In the period 2006-2016, Ankestyrelsen, (The Danish Social Appeals Board) was responsible for collecting data on placements in out-of-home care.

Frequency of data collection

Data from the 98 municipalities are collected continuously. It is possible to report on a daily basis.

Data collection

Data are transmitted via different system-to-system solutions. Municipalities can also upload data through a web platform, provided by Statistics Denmark. The system-to-system solutions are provided by several developers, for instance DUBU, DXC, SBSYS and Modulus Social.

For more information on reporting criteria, see: Bekendtgørelsen om dataindberetning på socialområdet.

Data validation

Data are validated yearly in cooperation with the municipalities. For each municipality, a list is extracted from the database based on CPR numbers (social security numbers). The list contains a compilation of yearly initiations and placements in out-of-home care, placements in out-of-home care with consent, and placements in foster family care. The extracted list is then sent to the municipalities for control, and ultimately approval of data, if it corresponds with their activity and records. Reports are sent each quarter to the municipalities in order to correct errors and issues with missing or misleading data.

As a general rule, only validated and approved data is published.

Data compilation

When the municipalities have approved their reports, the reported data are contained in an incident register, which contains the following occurrences: Decision of placement in out-of-home care, initiation of placement in out-of-home care, relocation, change in the legal basis of the placement, transfer and receipt of administrative obligation, establishment of 24-hour stay for persons, who have turned 18 years of age and termination of an out-of-home placement, or repatriation of a child or a young person. If a person turns 18 or 23 years of age, and a termination of an out-of-home placement is not reported, an automatic termination is added one day before the person turns 18 or 23 years old. Age is calculated at the date of the reported incident/occurrence.

On the basis of data in the incident register, a progress register is formed. Decisions and terminations have identical start and end dates. All other incidents end when a new incident occurs. If an incident does not have an end date, the following date is added to the incident automatically: 31st of December 9999. The length of placement in out-of-home care is calculated as the number of days between the start and end dates.

A status/stock register is formed on the basis of the progress register. Status is calculated per 31st of December and indicated by year. Age is also calculated at year-end, i.e. per 31st of December.

If the legal basis for the placement is stated as provisional decision, and the placement in out-of-home care has lasted for more than 14 days, the legal basis of the measure is changed to placement without consent.

Adjustment

Not relevant for these statistics.