This qualitative study aimed to examine which discourses can be found within the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (BUP) and women’s shelters against domestic violence, concerning children that have experienced violence within the family, from two perspectives: the child’s need of father and of protection from violence. The study also aimed to examine which discourses can be found within the organisations concerning children’s well-being, how they define their mission concerning domestic violence and how this can affect the practical work with children that have experienced violence and their parents. The questions that the study aimed to answer were which discourses can be distinguished within BUP and the women’s shelters against domestic violence and how they can affect the different agencies’ view of the child’s need and well-being. These questions have been answered with collected interviews from the two respective agencies which have then been interpreted and processed through a critical discourse analysis from different theoretical concepts such as dominant discourses and service discourses in relation to Social Work, children’s need as a social construction and discourses of the child as a victim and an active participant. What the study showed was that the active participant-discourse overall was more prominent within BUP and that the victim-discourse was more prominent within the women’s shelters against domestic violence but also that both discourses were distinguishable in different ways and to different extents in both agencies in different combinations and variations. The study also found that the discourses, in different ways and to different extents, also affected the agencies’ view of the child’s need of father and of protection from violence.

Följande studie är en kvalitativ dokumentstudie vars syfte är att genom en diskursanalys utifrån Ernesto Laclau och Chantal Mouffe’s (2001; 2008) diskursteori utforska på vilket sätt barnet, dess delaktighet och dess bästa framställs i tingsrätten. Studien har undersökt detta i domar från tingsrätten gällande umgänge med umgängesstöd enligt 6 kap. §15c föräldrabalken (FB) (SFS 1949:381). De juridiska ramar gällande barnet, som finns i föräldrabalken och barnkonventionen (Lag [SFS 2018:1197] om Förenta nationernas konvention om barnets rättigheter), tyder på att barnet besitter en stark ställning gentemot vuxna, men forskning visar på att barn sällan får möjlighet att delta och sällan får sin vilja hörd. Studiens empiriska material består av 21 domar gällande umgänge med umgängesstöd från tingsrätten. Studien har utgångspunkt i socialkonstruktionismen och för att fördjupa analysen och för att bidra till diskussionen har inslag av barndomssociologiska perspektiv samt Roger Harts delaktighetsstege (1992) tillämpats. Laclau och Mouffe presenterar i sin diskursanalys flertalet centrala begrepp, men vi har fokuserat på begreppen diskurs, flytande signifikanter och subjektspositioner som är av störst relevans utifrån studiens syfte och frågeställningar. De diskurser om barnet som identifierats i materialet är; den familjeorienterade, skyddsorienterade och rättighetsorienterade diskursen. De flytande signifikanter som urskilts är; barnets bästa, umgängesstöd och barnets mognad. Till sist, de subjektspositioner vi ser att barnet placeras i är; rättighetsbäraren och skyddsobjektet. Studien visar på att det är långt ifrån självklart hur barnets bästa ska bedömas i tingsrättens domar samt att möjligheterna till delaktighet för barn är begränsade av olika faktorer så som påverkan av vuxna samt barnets mognad och ålder. Hur barnet framställs är inte heller givet då det är något som är beroende av barnets subjektsposition som i sin tur påverkas av vilken diskurs som råder. Studiens resultat lämnar oss undrande om insatsen ”umgänge med umgängesstöd” i själva verket beviljas för barnen, eller om den beviljas utifrån föräldrarnas bästa. / The following study is a qualitative document study whose purpose is to explore the way in which the child, its participation and its best interests are presented in the district court through a discourse analysis based on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's discourse theory (2001; 2008). The study has examined judgments from the district court regarding supervised visitation according to Chapter 6 §15c Children and Parents Code (FB) (SFS 1949:381). The legal framework regarding the child, presented in the Children and Parents Code and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Law [SFS 2018:1197] on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child), indicates that the child possesses a strong position in relation to adults, but research shows that children rarely get the opportunity to participate and rarely get their will heard. The study's empirical material consists of 21 judgments regarding supported visitation from the district court. These have been analyzed with the help of a discourse analysis to examine how the district court portrays the child, their participation, and the best interest of the child. The study is based on a social constructionist theory. To deepen the analysis the study has also used sociological perspectives on children and childhood and Roger Hart's ladder of participation (1992) to contribute to the discussion. Laclau and Mouffe present in their discourse analysis several central concepts, but the following study has used the concepts that are the most relevant based on the studies’ aim and research questions. The discourses about the child that have been identified in the material are the family-oriented, protection-oriented, and rights-oriented discourse. The floating signifiers determined are the best interests of the child, supported visitation and the child's maturity. And finally, the subject positions we see the child placed in are the rights-holder and the object of protection. The study shows that it is far from obvious how the best interests of the child should be assessed in the district court's judgments and that the opportunities for participation for children are limited by several different factors such as influence from adults and the children’s maturity and age. How the child is portrayed is also not given as it is something that is dependent on the child's subject position, which in turn is affected by the prevailing discourse. Based on the results of the study we ask ourselves if the intervention “supervised visitation” is granted for the children, or if it is granted based on the parents' rights and needs.