Children between the ages of nine and ten are caught by criminal gangs and when the social services come in, the children find it difficult to break with the criminal environment.

A survey that TT sent to the municipalities' social services shows that the problem is increasing in several places - including in Kalmar.

- We have previously not directly had any gang-related problems among younger people.

But now we have a gang that we see has come up in our municipality and that we have high concerns about, says Thereze Lundborg, unit manager for the reception unit children and family in Kalmar to TT.

- Younger are running boys for older, the gang is built on and you exercise power by making others afraid of you.

No one dares to rattle on the gang, even though some of them are as young as they are in grade six, she says.

The young people are usually between 14 and 16 years old when they report anxiety for the first time linked to criminal networks, according to the answers in the survey.

But also children as young as nine to ten years old are recruited.

Parents deny efforts for criminal children

Across the country, the social services are struggling to try to deal with criminal children and young people.

But the efforts are often based on volunteering at the same time as both the young people and their parents can be difficult to motivate.

Several social managers now point to the need for sharper efforts, including Thereze Lundborg in Kalmar.

- Our big challenge is to make the guardians realize that what their children are doing is a problem, she tells TT.

- There are quite a few parents who want us to prove what their children have done.

Otherwise you do not want to admit that there are problems in the family, and then you do not want any help and then it can go very far down.

Early help reduces the risk of serious problems or more serious crime.

With current legislation, however, the social services' efforts are based on voluntariness.

If the parents or the young person themselves say no, the social services can usually not force them to accept interventions.