Mandatory BVC Visits Proposed

Mandatory BVC visits for children up to four years old. This is one of the proposals from Gulan Avci (L), the government's coordinator against social exclusion. She dismisses the Social Democrats' noted proposal against segregation.

– The sinner awakens late, says Avci.

Over a year ago, Gulan Avci, then the Liberal Party's secretary and a member of parliament, was appointed as the national coordinator against social exclusion. Since then, she has traveled around Sweden's marginalized areas, where a total of 170,000 children are estimated to grow up, to develop proposals for action.

On June 18, she will present them to Integration Minister Mats Persson (L).

The measures proposed by Gulan Avci are aimed at strengthening integration and, in the long term, reducing new recruitment to gangs.

Revoked Child Allowance

One of the proposals involves investigating how to make BVC visits for children between 2.5 and 4 years mandatory.

According to Gulan Avci, children in vulnerable areas are at greater risk of poor health and insecurity, such as honor violence and oppression. To identify problems in families and early interventions to help children with delayed language skills, she believes the checks are important.

At the same time, it has been observed that parents in these areas often miss the visits. This may be due to difficulties understanding the notices due to language barriers, but also a distrust of authorities.

– If the visits became mandatory, more children would likely show up, says Avci, adding:

– And then more children at risk of falling behind, for example in their language development, would be identified, and various types of individual interventions could be implemented.

Those who still do not attend the visits should risk a report of concern to social services, according to Gulan Avci. She also opens up to changing the child benefit system and making it possible to withdraw it.

– Not showing up must have consequences.

Gulan Avci also wants authorities and actors close to young children to have the right to share information with each other. For example, BVC should be able to inform the preschool about a child's lack of language skills.

She also wants to stop the establishment of new private preschools in vulnerable areas, strengthen knowledge about honor oppression within preschools, and force all principals to charge a fee from parents.

Gender-Separating Children

According to Gulan Avci, unscrupulous actors today attract parents in vulnerable areas by offering free preschools, often with an ethnic or religious profile. At the same time, the principals receive part of society's economic standard compensations, which are often higher in marginalized areas.

She says she has heard "horrific examples" of how some actors operate.

– These are preschools that engage in separating boys and girls and contribute to reinforcing segregation. They target parents who have little trust in preschools and exploit the existing fear, says Avci.

– If the generation growing up now, children born in Sweden, are to be part of our future, we cannot have actors who counteract integration and contribute to maintaining values that do not align with the preschool's value base.

Simple Jobs and Lower Taxes

Segregation is expected to be one of the major election issues next year.

The Social Democrats have approved a series of measures the party wants to see, which emerged from a working group led by Member of Parliament Lawen Redar. Measures such as building more rental apartments in more affluent "Swedish" areas have attracted much attention.

Gulan Avci scoffs at the Social Democrats' proposals and what she considers the party's late awakening. She does not believe in moving people and argues that it is the Social Democrats' policies that have largely caused the emergence of parallel societies.

– I have talked to so many people who want to stay in their area; what they are asking for is security. Measures so that they get jobs and self-sufficiency.