Adherence to day care in vulnerable areas has increased after a controversial law came into force.
It writes Jyllands-Posten.
In 2018, the Folketing decided as part of the ghetto package that all one-year-olds in vulnerable housing areas must go to day care. The move was hailed by critics as an unnecessary coercion against parents.
A survey conducted by Jyllands-Posten shows that the proportion of parents who send their children to day care has increased significantly in several municipalities after the law was introduced.
At the same time, coercive intervention has hardly been used, writes Jyllands-Posten.
In Copenhagen, the proportion of young children enrolled in day care has increased from 76 per cent to 85 per cent in the vulnerable housing areas.
In Odense, the share has increased from 70 percent to 92 percent, and in Aarhus the arrow points the same way.
– The law was a wakeup call. It is quite certain that it has helped to move the numbers, says Mayor of Children and Young People in Copenhagen Jesper Christensen (S) to Jyllands-Posten.
He explains that the law made the municipality “intensify” the work of getting parents to send their children to day care.
In Odense, the municipality had also long tried to get more children from, among others, Vollsmose in the nursery.
– But I have to admit that the law pushed tremendously on that effort, says councilor Susanne Crawley Larsen (R) to Jyllands-Posten.
The law from 2018 means that children from vulnerable housing areas must enter a “compulsory learning offer” when the child turns one, unless the parents themselves make sure to get the child in day care.
It must ensure that the children learn Danish and are introduced to Danish culture and democracy.
Vulnerable housing areas are defined in the legislation, among other things, by the fact that a large proportion of residents are without a job or have a low level of education. Among the areas are also the residential areas defined by law as ghettos.
First, the estimate was that up to 700 children could end up in a forced crรจche.
But an evaluation shows that it has happened to 35 children, a year after the law came into force. 15 families were drawn into child benefit because they would not follow the rules.
The Unity List has called the law “symbolic politics”. And children’s rapporteur Jakob Sรธlvhรธj maintains the criticism, even though more children now go on day care.
– I am convinced that one could have achieved the same – or better – results without threatening the parents with coercion, he says to Jyllands-Posten.
Source: The Nordic Page