Authorities and people you will meet
You will meet many different adults who are responsible for different things that affect you and your family.
The Swedish Migration Agency
The Swedish Migration Agency is responsible for deciding whether you and your family should be granted a residence permit in Sweden. If you and your family have nowhere to live, you will receive temporary accommodation that the Swedish Migration Agency is responsible for providing while you wait for accommodation from the municipality where you are placed. If you and your family do not have any money of your own, you will get help from the Swedish Migration Agency, so that your parents can buy food and clothes.
The municipality
The municipality is responsible for making sure you can go to school and that young children can go to preschool while their parents work. There are many adults working at school to whom you can turn if you have questions about how something works in Sweden.
In the municipality, there is something called ‘social services’. Social services help children who do not feel safe at home or who do not have an adult who can take care of them.
Interpreter
You and your family have the right to an interpreter when you go to important meetings. This could be when you meet with someone from the Swedish Migration Agency or someone who works at the municipality, when you visit the doctor, or when your parents have an appointment to talk with your teachers.
The interpreter can speak both Swedish and the language you and your family speak. It is the interpreter’s job to translate everything that is said in the room and not say anything more. It is important that you and the interpreter understand each other and that you dare to say everything you want to say while the interpreter is there. If you do not understand the interpreter, you need to tell them. Also tell us if you and the interpreter are related or know each other in some other way. If you prefer to have a man or a woman as an interpreter, you or your parents should say so in advance.
Children often learn Swedish faster than adults, but you should never have to be an interpreter for your parents. It is not your responsibility to translate when adults are talking.
Obligation of secrecy
Everyone who works at the Swedish Migration Agency is bound by an obligation of secrecy. This means that they are not allowed to tell anyone what they know about you and your family. Only your parents and those working on your application have the right to know what you have said.
Interpreters are also bound by an obligation of secrecy, as are staff at the municipality, in the healthcare service, or at schools.
Anyone who has an obligation of secrecy may break their obligation of secrecy so that they can talk to another responsible adult if they think you are in any sort of danger.
Your parents are not bound by an obligation of secrecy, as it is their responsibility to talk to other adults about you.