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This is a chronicle. Analysis and opinions are the author's own.

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What is a child's life worth? This and many other child rights issues have been raised during Almedalen Week. Today, it is more a rule than an exception that a child, against his will, is forced into a relationship with highly inappropriate parents. The issues of child rights concern me deeply and alongside my work I am involved in Brinn for the Children. A non-profit association made up of as many knowledgeable fire souls as everyday struggles for those children who are completely without protection. They assist the social services, conduct advocacy work and cooperate with child rights lawyers, so that each child becomes their own legal guardian and that Sweden's courts are properly equipped to judge from a child law perspective rather than parental law.

My own involvement in child rights issues has always been there, but intensified when a friend told me about two girls about to be deported, 12 and 15 years old. It was very sad for two children who had lived in Sweden for more than 10 years. Even more remarkable was that they were also family home for 5 years.

I asked myself how it is even possible for a Swedish authority to judge that children need protection, while another authority considers that they should be deported, together with the person from whom they are being protected. In conversations with the girls, the social services, the mother and the rest of the environment, quite a few disagreements emerged.

Among other things, there were conflicting answers concerning a man in his home country. According to authorities, the data was based on conversations with the mother. One authority documented that the man was the father of the children and the other that he was the father of only one girl. They would be deported with a mother they had not lived with for more than five years, to one of the poorest countries in the world, where they would be received by a man in whom a single word was decisive. Dad or not dad. A single word.

How do language impairments affect decisions? What does it mean for individuals who get the right interpreter compared to those who don't? In any decision relating to children, it should be a matter of course to ensure that the basis on which the decisions are based are correct. How many children are misjudged? What happens to the children who are cared for or not cared for because of language impairments?

How many children are misjudged? What happens to the children who are cared for or not cared for because of language impairments?

I get a stomach ache when I read the research report released in December 2021 and produced on behalf of the Discrimination Ombudsman. There, the researchers highlight shortcomings that represent a difference in the assessment of interventions for children. In the report, the interviewees describe language interference as a crucial barrier in all aspects of the investigation work and that there is a lack of access to good interpreters to a large extent. The lack of resources in terms of time, money and good interpreters has major implications for the involvement of families and for the legal certainty of the proceedings.

As the co-founder of DigitalTolk, I am both pissed and outraged. There is no reason at all to be without an interpreter or not to have access to an interpreter with the right skills. The main reason why we founded DigitalTolk and developed our system was, among other things, that authorized interpreters testified that they sat with empty calendars while the clients described a situation, similar to the one in the report, with poor access and lack of quality.

There is no reason whatsoever for this. This presupposes that the municipality procures interpretation services in a way that gives priority to authorised interpreters in all cases where investigations are carried out. At least as important is that municipalities follow up the services and ensure that the requirements are also complied with. Delivering services to the public sector comes with a responsibility but also with a responsibility for those who procure. There needs to be a stop to procurements where prices are dumped, where contracts allow loopholes and where it is not clear what action is taken if a supplier systematically breaches the contract. Services need to be made more accessible and the requirements significantly tougher.

It just has to get right.