On the 18th of May, HRJust presented our film to representatives from The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), including investigators, legal experts, and policy specialists working with guidance materials on how authorities apply new legislation affecting children and young people. The conversation centered on a difficult but necessary question: what happens when laws introduced in the name of safety instead produce stigma, fear, and exclusion for the children most affected by them?

Through the film, young people from Hammarkullen shared their experiences and reflections on measures such as safety zones, body searches, ankle monitors, and group detentions, and how these policies shape everyday life in marginalized neighborhoods. They spoke about being singled out, criminalized in their own areas, and growing up with the feeling that their existence is treated with suspicion from the start.

One of the strongest moments of the meeting was hearing the youth directly answer questions from adults in positions of power:
What does constant surveillance do to your sense of belonging? How does policing affect trust in social services? What would real support actually look like?

Their answers emphasised the importance of investing in relationships, visibility, cultural competence, community-building, and spaces where children are genuinely involved in decisions affecting them instead of responding with punishment and coercion.
Participation matters because no policy about children should be shaped without listening to the children living its consequences.

We are deeply grateful to Pernilla Krusberg from Socialstyrelsen for creating space for this dialogue, to Marie Angsell from Bris for contributing their “Expertgrupp Barn” methodology, and above all to the young people who spoke with honesty, courage, and clarity about their lived realities.