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Good practice Imported

Sweden's Barnahus (Children's House) — Multidisciplinary One-Stop Centres for Child Victims of Sexual Abuse and Violence

Sweden · Stockholm · See the Sweden profile · See the Stockholm profile

Evidence: Quasi-experimental Top 4% 100/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Sweden's 28 Barnahus co-locate police, social services, prosecution and child psychiatry for child victims of sexual abuse. Evaluations show conviction rates 20–45% higher than jurisdictions without Barnahus; the model has been replicated across all Nordic countries and beyond.

+20–45%
Conviction rate vs jurisdictions without Barnahus
28
Permanent Barnahus centres (2022)
164 of 290
Municipalities served (2022)
Sweden's Barnahus (Children's House) — Multidisciplinary One-Stop Centres for Child Victims of Sexual Abuse and Violence

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Socialstyrelsen (Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare)
Period
2005-present
Region (NUTS)
SE11
Keywords
gender-based violence, child protection, sexual abuse, multidisciplinary centres, victim support, forensic interview

Context

Sweden's Barnahus ('Children's House') are child-friendly centres that co-locate police, prosecutors, social services, child psychiatry and forensic medicine so that child victims of sexual abuse and violence are interviewed once, in one place, rather than repeatedly across agencies. The first opened in Linköping in 2005, modelled on Iceland's 1998 Barnhús.

Results

By 2022, 28 permanent Barnahus centres served 164 of Sweden's 290 municipalities. Comparative evaluations across Sweden, Norway and Denmark report conviction rates 20–45% higher than jurisdictions without Barnahus, and the model has been replicated across the Nordic countries and beyond.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Where it's been adopted

Documented replications and adaptations of this practice elsewhere.

PlaceWhenAdopterOutcome
Finland — Barnahus Finland (LASTA/Barnahus project) Barnahus model rollout supported by the PROMISE network.
United Kingdom 2023 Bairns' Hoose (Scotland) First Scottish Barnahus opened September 2023.
Slovenia 2022 Hiša za otroke (Barnahus Slovenia), Ministry of Justice First Slovenian Barnahus, opened as a PROMISE partner country.
Denmark 2013 Børnehus (Denmark) Statutory nationwide Børnehus network.
Greenland 2011 Greenland Barnahus Barnahus model implementation in Greenland.
Norway 2007 Statens Barnehus (Norway) Nationwide network of children's houses following the Nordic Barnahus model.

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