Entering the Market: On the Licensing of Residential Homes for Children and Youth in Sweden

In Sweden, residential care for children to a great extent takes place in a care market, and a precondition for private care providers to enter the market is a licence issued by the state. The aim of the study is to describe and analyse the regulatory conditions for and output of licensing in the market of residential care for children in Sweden. Analytically, licensing is considered a formative mechanism, which means that it shapes the development of the supply side of residential care. The empirical material consists of an analysis of formal licence decisions and interviews with inspectors managing licences. The results show that the majority of the applicants were granted a licence during the year of the study and that the licensing process consists of a few stringent standards. Further, the stringent standards are influenced only to a limited extent by knowledge generated from research on residential care and the applicants are granted a fair degree of leeway as regards how to organise the care content. The findings are discussed based on whether the licensing system takes advantage of its potential and what it may entail for the residential care market at a broader level.