Internationally adopted individuals are at greater risk for mental illness than other groups, according to official sources. The national support for adopted individuals is already insufficient today, as noted in the adoption commission's investigation presented this summer. Specific mental health issues most common among this group remain unclear, and the exact reasons for a decrease in usage of the Gothenburg support are not detailed.
Affected individuals and organizations have expressed concerns about the loss of specialized expertise. According to SVT Väst (official), Mariana Ribeiro da Silva described that if an adopted person seeks psychiatric care, they are usually denied. Several members of the Transnational Adoptees National Organization have testified to the same thing, official sources report.
If you seek psychiatric care as an adopted person, you are usually denied.
Mariana Ribeiro da Silva and TAR believe the support has unique expertise built up over more than 20 years, though what specific expertise it has that the national service lacks is unknown. The city of Gothenburg has justified the change by noting that the number of adopted individuals using the support has decreased significantly over the years, but how many have used it in recent years is not specified. When the Psychologist Unit is reorganized, there are simply no resources to keep the support for so few hours per year, according to the city.
Adopted individuals in Gothenburg who want counseling support will be referred to the Swedish Authority for Family Law and Parental Support, with the MFoF support held digitally via link and not originating from Gothenburg. According to SVT Väst (official), Roger Söderstrand described that MFoF is fully aware that they need to develop their operations and are working to do so. How the digital MFoF support will be structured and what resources it will provide remains to be seen.
In our conversation together with MFoF, they say that they are fully aware that they need to develop their operations, and are working to do so as well. So this is nothing that one just neglects in any way.