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Children and young persons with preventive measures

The purpose of the statistic on preventive measures given to disadvantaged children and young people is to analyze relief measures given to children and young people, who receive assistance according to the current legislation regarding special support for children and young people. The statistic is used in preparation of government policies, the public debate and for academic research. The statistic has been produced since April 1976. In its current form, the statistic is comparable from year 2007 and onwards.

Statistical presentation

The statistic on preventive measures is an annual statistic, updated every year. It gives information on relief measures given to children and young people on the basis of specific paragraphs of the Danish Act on Social Service and the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act. The data are distributed by age, sex, and type of measure. The data are also distributed by provinces and municipalities. The statistic is released in the StatBank Denmark and in the publication “Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik”.

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Statistical processing

Data for these statistics are collected from the 98 municipalities from their IT-systems or by using a web–based register system, provided by Statistics Denmark. The collected data from the municipalities are then linked with active measures already found in the register. Each child or adolescent in the registry is updated with data, which have been reported during the course of the relevant year. All of the data are subsequently gathered in a register containing all persons who at some point during their first 23 years of life, have received support according to the Danish Act on Social Service and the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act. The reported information is validated in close collaboration with the municipalities, and are subsequently aggregated and supplemented with data from Statistics Denmark's population statistics.

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Relevance

The statistics are used by municipalities, regions, ministries, the media, researchers and private individuals. The statistics is among other used for public planning and administration, research, public debate and education.

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Accuracy and reliability

Data regarding paragraphs 57a, 57b and 57c of the Social Service Act are underestimated as these are not reported directly in all of the digital systems used by the municipalities. As the municipalities use different digital systems for data reporting and transmission, the data regarding preventive measures are not registered systematically and uniformly. Municipalities can register the same case/phenomenon on differing paragraphs. The extent of such practice in not known. It is also worth mentioning the following: There is a possibility that data regarding the year 2020 for Dragør Municipality is underestimated. Data regarding the year 2020 for Vallensbæk Municipality can be erroneous. Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality's data for 2020 can be overestimated, except for §11 (Social Service Act). Holstebro Municipality's data for 2020 can be overestimated and Sønderborg Municipality's data for 2020 can be underestimated. Solrød Municipality's data regarding §11 of the Social Service Act is underestimated in 2021.

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Timeliness and punctuality

The statistics is published approximately 9 months after the end of the reference period. There has been delays in the past years due to reorganization of the registration systems in the municipalities, but it expected that the statistics will be published at the announced times in the future.

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Comparability

The statistics have been published since 1977, but due to large changes in legislation in 1985, 1993 and 2006, the statistics are not directly comparable throughout the whole period.

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Accessibility and clarity

These statistics are published yearly in a press release on support to the children and young at risk: Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik om Støtte til udsatte børn og unge. At the same time the statistical tables are updated in the StatBank: Children and youth at risk. For further information, see subject page.

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