Page 10 of 30 with the removal of a child from a foster home and its possible detrimental effects on him and with his reunification with his natural parents - on which the Administrative Court of Appeal had relied were matters to be considered not under section 5 but in separate proceedings, namely an investigation under section 28 of the Social Services Act 1980 (socialtjänstlagen 1980:620). The latter section empowers a Social District Council to prohibit, for a certain period of time or until further notice, the removal from a foster home of a minor who is not or is no longer in public care, if there is thereby a risk, which is not of a minor nature, of harming his physical or mental health. 32. Stefan is now reunited with his parents. However, on 23 June 1987 the Council, acting pursuant to section 28 of the Social Services Act 1980, prohibited them until further notice from removing Helena and Thomas from their respective foster homes. An application by Mr. and Mrs. Olsson for the interim suspension of this prohibition was refused by the County Administrative Court on 25 June 1987; this decision was confirmed by the Administrative Court of Appeal on 2 July 1987 and, on 17 August 1987, the Supreme Administrative Court refused leave to appeal. On 3 November 1987, the County Administrative Court rejected on the merits the applicants’ appeal against the prohibition; it expressed the opinion that "a prohibition against removal should not be valid for too long a period" and that "a precondition for the rescission of the prohibition ... is that efforts should be made to improve contacts between the parents and children, both through Mr. and Mrs. Olsson and through the Social District Council". According to information supplied to the European Court by the Government on 16 November 1987, an appeal by the applicants to the Administrative Court of Appeal against this judgment was then pending; in the meantime, they remained free to visit Helena and Thomas at the foster homes. II. RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW A. Introduction 33. According to Swedish child-welfare legislation, each municipality is responsible for promoting the favourable development of children and young persons by taking, if necessary, supportive or preventive measures (see paragraph 43 below). It may also take a child into care and place him in a foster home, a children’s home or another suitable institution. The legislation divides measures of the latter kind into two categories: the first concerns "voluntary care", enabling a parent to place his child into the care of a local authority; the second provides for "compulsory care", by establishing machinery whereby a local authority can obtain a court decision or order committing a child to its care. It was recourse to this machinery that was in issue in the present case. 34. Decisions concerning the applicants’ children were taken under the 1960 Act and under the Act containing Special Provisions on the Care of Young Persons 1980 (lag 1980: 621 med särskilda bestämmelser om vård av unga - "the 1980 Act"). The 1980 Act complements the Social Services Act 1980, which deals with voluntary care; on entering into force on 1 January 1982, they together replaced the 1960 Act. In general, decisions taken under the 1960 Act which were still in force on 31 December 1981 were considered to be decisions taken under the 1980 Act. B. Conditions for compulsory care 1. Under the 1960 Act 35. Under section 25(a) of the 1960 Act, the competent local authority in child-care matters - the Child Welfare Board (barnavårdsnämnden) or, in Stockholm and Gothenburg, the Social District Council - was obliged to intervene (translation from the Swedish): "[if] a person, not yet eighteen years of age, is maltreated in his home or otherwise treated there in a manner endangering his bodily or mental health, or if his development is jeopardised by the unfitness of his parents or other guardians responsible for his upbringing, or by their inability to raise the child." http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/viewhbkm.asp?sessionId=60525252&skin=hudoc-en&a... 10/13/2010