From left: Vivianne Varga, Rebecca Ljungqvist and Rocio Palma Lopez, social secretary at the Children and Youth Investigation in Burlöv Municipality.
We wanted to secure the children's perspective – Ommej became a crucial piece of the puzzle in Burlöv
How do you ensure that the child's voice is truly heard, even when conversations are difficult or when the child does not want or have the energy to come to social services? For Burlöv's social services, Ommej became a tool that made children's participation possible in practice and changed both conversations, working methods and relationships.
When the child's voice is at risk of being lost
The issue of children's participation had long been central to Burlöv's social services.
“We talked a lot about how we can strengthen the child perspective. How we can stop talking about children and instead talk to them,” says social service employees.
At the same time, it became increasingly clear that traditional working methods were not always enough. Much of children's everyday life and communication today takes place digitally, and for some children – especially children with NPF or experience of trauma – physical meetings with social services are both difficult and energy-consuming.
– The child's perspective is crucial for interventions to be right. But we needed a better way to actually see what is important for the child – not just risks and problems, but also what works.
A need for something more
When the working group learned about Ommej, interest was quickly piqued. The tool's clear focus on children's participation was well aligned with the needs of the organization.
At the same time, there were initial concerns.
– We thought about whether it would be complicated, how it would work in everyday life, and how colleagues with different digital habits would adopt the tool.
Those concerns quickly dissipated.
– It turned out that Ommej was very user-friendly, both for the children and for us as professionals. It was quick to get started and the results were immediately useful in the conversations.
A decisive factor was the close collaboration during the implementation.
– You (Ommejs) have been incredibly responsive. When something has come up, we have received quick feedback and solutions the same day. That is a big difference compared to many other systems.
The children set the agenda
Today, Ommej is a natural part of daily work and the difference is clearly noticeable in the meeting with the children.
– For many children, this means that they get to set the agenda and express what is important to them even before the conversation.
This affects both the child's safety and the content of the conversation.
– The children are often calmer, less anxious and more engaged. Some have even said that it was fun to answer.
Ommej also contributes to a common goal in the work.
– It won't be "what the social services think", but something that actually comes from the child themselves.
When a child's voice makes a real difference
One case in particular has stuck with the staff. A young person with NPF and extensive trauma did not want to participate in conversations, which made the work difficult.
– When we used Ommej, the youth suddenly wanted to respond. Much more information emerged than we had before and it allowed us to completely refocus our efforts.
The result was more targeted support for the parent, stronger relationships in the family and more goal-focused work in family treatment.
– Even when we didn't meet the child physically, we were able to stay in touch via Ommej and follow up in a completely different way.
More than efficiency – stronger relationships
One of the biggest positive surprises was not about efficiency, but about relationships.
– We thought the main benefit would be faster processes. What we didn't anticipate was how positively family relationships would be affected when the child's voice was truly heard.
Advice to other municipalities
To other municipalities facing similar challenges, the advice is clear:
– Dare to try. It's not difficult. It makes us better at our job and more children actually get to speak. Ommej is a very useful complement – and we need many tools.
And if they had been allowed to wish for something?
– That we had known about Ommej before.
Many thanks to Burlöv Municipality for a great collaboration. We are always happy when our users describe the benefits Ommej is intended to create, in practice.