Maskrosbarn to open new youth centre in Umeå

Too many people know what it means to grow up with a parent who drinks, misuses substances, struggles with mental illness or uses violence against their family. In Sweden, 700,000 children and young people live in such circumstances – and in Umeå, they have had few places to turn. That is now changing.

Most teenagers have worries. But for young people growing up with a parent who misuses substances, has a severe mental illness or is violent, those worries are of a completely different nature. They run deeper, they are more constant – and they are almost always carried alone.

In Sweden, almost 700,000 children and young people live in these kinds of family situations. Research shows that they are up to 600 per cent more likely than other children to develop mental health problems, substance abuse issues of their own and difficulties at school. One in four leaves compulsory school without the grades needed to apply for upper secondary education. That is almost twice as many as in the rest of the population. Losing a foothold in education is one of the strongest risk factors for a life of social exclusion.

Yet many of these young people have never told an adult about what they are experiencing at home.

“These young people are given a responsibility they should never have had, and they pay a high price for it. Maskrosbarn meets them with time, warmth and a genuine understanding of what they are going through. This is exactly the kind of work Kavli Trust wants to make possible,” says Ingrid Paasche, CEO of Kavli Trust.

A place to breathe

Since 2005, the Swedish organisation Maskrosbarn has worked to give these young people somewhere to go and someone to talk to. The name refers to the dandelion – a flower that pushes its way up through cracks in the pavement. Today, the organisation runs youth centres and provides counselling support in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

With support from Kavli Trust, they can now open a local office and youth centre in Umeå in 2027, aimed at young people aged 13 to 19 in Västerbotten. The service is free and voluntary – young people choose for themselves what they need.

It might be a conversation with a counsellor about anxiety or what is happening at home. It might be dropping in after school to have dinner and spend time with someone who sees them. Or it might be help from a child advocate when life at home has become unsafe and contact with social services is needed.

What sets Maskrosbarn apart from many other organisations is that its employees and volunteers have themselves grown up in similar family situations. That experience creates something that is difficult to build in any other way – recognition, trust and a genuine understanding of what it means to live with a secret like that.

A model that works

Kavli Trust helped establish Maskrosbarn’s work in Malmö. Today, that operation is self-financed through agreements with local authorities, partnerships with businesses and its own income. The same ambition applies to Umeå.

Four full-time employees with backgrounds in social care will build up the service, while also working to help schools, healthcare professionals and others recognise the young people who need support the most. For many of the young people Maskrosbarn meets, it is the first time they have spoken to an adult about their situation at home.

“We meet young people who have never told a single adult what is happening at home. Many carry a sense of shame that they have never put into words. When they finally find the courage to speak, it is because they meet someone who does not just understand intellectually, but who has experienced it themselves. The funding from Kavli Trust makes it possible to build exactly this in Umeå,” says a key person at Maskrosbarn.

Maskrosbarn’s combination of professional methods and lived experience expertise has also been a decisive factor in Kavli Trust’s decision to support the establishment.

“Maskrosbarn combines methodological strength with a model built on lived experience. This is an approach that works and that can be scaled. Västerbotten is a region with a real and unmet need, and that combination is exactly what we are looking for,” says Malin Lassen, Kavli Trust’s Grants Manager for Sweden.

Facts about the project

• In 2027, Maskrosbarn will open a local office and youth centre in Umeå, providing individual counselling support, child advocacy and information work aimed at schools and professionals.
• The target group is young people aged 13 to 19 in Västerbotten who are growing up with parents who have substance abuse problems, severe mental illness or who use violence at home.
• The service is free and voluntary. Young people can receive support through conversations, community at the youth centre and help contacting public services when needed.
• Kavli Trust’s support will help build a sustainable local service, with the aim that it can over time continue through regional commitment and long-term partnerships.