Familjer som kommer i kontakt med socialtjänsten har ofta komplexa behov, vilket föranleder kontakt med ett flertal serviceområden samtidigt. Komparativ forskning om olika former av stöd och service i relation till komplexa familjeproblem är sällsynta. Syftet med denna studie har därför varit att analysera likheter och skillnader i hur socialarbetare inom serviceområdena missbruk och social barnavård beskriver villkor och mål för insatser i familjer med komplexa behov. Studien har genomförts inom ramen för ett NORFACE Welfare State Futures projekt kallat Family complexity and social work (FACSK). Studien baseras på två fokusgruppsintervjuer med deltagare inom respektive serviceområde. Intervjuerna utgick från en vinjett i tre delar som beskrev en familj med komplexa behov och analyserades kvalitativt genom en innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att socialarbetarna främst fokuserade på de problem vilka föll inom deras specifika ansvarsområde och föreslog individuella insatser till familjens medlemmar, vilket dekonstruerade familjen. Familjemedlemmarna kategoriserades olika inom fokusgrupperna, vilket kan förstås utifrån vilka byråkratiska identiteter som fanns tillgängliga inom respektive serviceområde. Gemensamt för serviceområdena var att familjen inte framhölls som den primära klienten. Det individualiserade förhållningssättet positionerade vissa familjemedlemmar som problembärare och andra som offer. Missbruksgruppen uppvisade en bredare helhetssyn på familjen jämfört med social barnavård, vilket kan förstås utifrån att den sociala barnavårdens tydliga ansvar för att skydda barn försvårar möjligheten till ett holistiskt arbetssätt. / NORFACE Welfare State Futures - Family complexity and social work

I denna uppsats har författaren använt sig av en kvalitativ forskningsmetod för  hur Socialtjänstens arbete rörande frågor kring barns trygghet brister, och där barn far illa. Detta trots aktiva insatser som skall motarbeta barns utsatthet och där engagemang kring frågor som rör barn varit prioriterade sedan länge. Uppsatsen har inspirerats av diskursanalys som metod och teori. Den innehåller även det teoretiska begreppet ¨barnets bästa¨ och BBIC som ett analytiskt verktyg. Resultatet visar att Socialnämnden argumenterar utifrån föräldrars brister och det misslyckade föräldraskapet i förhållande till barns behov. Vidare framkommer att argumentationen förs utifrån lagstiftningen förutsättning syftar till att uppnå mer effektivitet i administration än att beakta barnets bästa. / The author have used a qualitative method to examine how the efforts of adults in the nonprofit, private and public sectors are failing to ensure children's safety. Although the efforts to protect children from getting harmed have been a prioritized for a long time.This dissertation has been inspired by discourse analysis as a method and theory. It also contains the theoretical concept of the best interest of the child and BBIC as an analytical tool. The result shows that the social services argues based on the parents shortcomings and the failed parenthood in relation to the children's needs. Furthermore, it is stated that the line of reasoning is based on the legislation provided for the purpose of achieving efficiency in administration rather than consider the child's best interest.

This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.     This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.     This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.     This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.     This study examines how gender and the gender order used to be reproduced in “the kind of workhouses known as “arbetsstugor” in Swedish” in Karlstad and Borås 1899-1928. What ideologies and general notions of gender were expressed in their activities? I have made a comparative analysis of the workhouses in Karlstad and Borås using what is known as contextual contrasts. This method is used to test theories and hypotheses about what is locally unique or features that are shared between places. The hypothesis tested in the study is based on Hirdman's theory of gender contracts and “the law of separation” and it was formulated on the assumption that the traditionally more conservative Borås would also have a stricter policy on gender separation than the traditionally more liberal Karlstad.

”Barnets rätt att bli hörd gäller alla barn. ... Men det räcker inte att endast lyssna på barnet. När barnet har förmåga att bilda sig en egen uppfattning måste barnets åsikter dessutom tillmätas betydelse.” (Barnombudsmannen, 2021). Syftet med studien är att undersöka samt öka kunskapen om vilka förutsättningar barn får för delaktighet. Det har genomförts kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer med åtta socialsekreterare för att undersöka hur socialsekreterare arbetar med samt tillämpar barns delaktighet i socialtjänstens barnavårdsutredningar. Respondenterna har berättat om sin förståelse av barns delaktighet, hur de arbetar med barnsamtal, hur beslutsunderlag utformas utifrån barns berättelser och om utmaningar med att göra barn delaktiga i utredningar. Materialet har analyserats i en tematisk analys utifrån barndomssociologin och Harts delaktighetsstege. Resultat visar att det krävs ytterligare arbete för att barn ska bli hörda inom socialtjänsten men att det inte är den enskilda socialsekreteraren som bär ansvaret för förändring. Det finns behov av en strukturell och organisatorisk förändring inom det sociala arbetets praktik för att barn inte endast ska ges förutsättningar att höras men också bli hörda inom socialtjänsten. / ”A child’s right to be heard applies to all children. … But it is not enough to just listen to the child. When a child has the ability to form his or her own opinion, the child’s opinions must also be given importance.” (Barnombudsmannen, 2021). The aim of this study is to investigate and increase knowledge about the conditions for children’s participation. Qualitative semi-structured interviews have been conducted with eight social service workers, to investigate how they work with and apply the principle of children’s’ participation in the social services’ child welfare investigations. The respondents have been interviewed about their understanding of children’s participation, how they work with individual conversations with children, how decision basis is designed based on children’s stories and about challenges in involving children in investigations. The material has been analyzed in a thematic analysis based on childhood sociology and Hart’s ladder of children’s participation. Results show that further work is required for children to be heard in the social services, but that it is not the individual social service workers’ who are responsible for a change. There is a need for structural and organizational change in the practice of social work so that children are not only given the conditions to be listened to, but also to be heard in the social services.

The study aims to examine foster parents’ experiences of foster care, focusing on the difficulties they may encounter and their experiences in the interactions and support from social services. Research shows that foster parents bear a significant responsibility for the lives and well-being of the children under their care. They often describe their parenting experiences as one characterized by powerlessness, and they perceive the support provided by social services as inadequate. Ensuring that foster parents receive the necessary support to provide stable and service care for the child is crucial for a successful placement. Considering this issue, the purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of the assignment and how foster parents experience the contact with social services. A qualitative method has been used and eight foster parents were interviewed using semi structured interviews. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis and presented and analyzed using Foucault’s theory of pastoral power and previous research. The results indicate that foster parents face different types of difficulties, especially when it comes to the contact with social services and the biological network of the placed children. The contact and support received from social services appears to be crucial for succeeding as foster parents, but it occurs to often be insufficient and lacking. The result also indicates that most foster parents’ experience difficulties related to the lack of decision making as well as the interactions between the placed child and its biological parents. However, lack of support emerges as the most challenging aspect of foster care according to the foster parents in this study because it makes it even harder to manage and handle the other difficulties and dilemmas that comes with the assignment. Therefore, this study emphasizes the significance of effective and supportive social services to ensure successful experiences for foster parents.

The aim of this study was to examine professional resilience among social workers. Professional resilience in this study included three dimensions; organizational, relational and emotional resilience. Resilience was described in this study as recuperation and resistance. The aim was to see which resilience factors contribute to social workers staying at their workplaces for more than two years. The study was based on six interviews with social workers at the social services in social child care in Sweden. The theory of emotional wage labor and the concept of SOC, Sense of Coherence, were used as theoretical frameworks. The study concluded that social workers stay longer than two years in their workplaces in social child care, primarily thanks to their colleagues. Other important factors for social workers to thrive were leadership and personal qualities, such as the emotional ability to leave the job at work and not engage too much emotionally.

I Sverige finns något som benämns samhällsvård, det vill säga vård och behandling av olika målgrupper i dygnet-runt-miljö. Placering i samhällsvård kan göras i fyra olika former av vård, nämligen familjehem, hem för vård eller boende (HVB), särskilda ungdomshem och stödboenden. HVB-hem arbetar på uppdrag av socialtjänsten, som tar emot barn och unga för vård eller behandling i förening med ett boende. De barn och unga som placeras på ett HVB-hem bor med någon annan än sina biologiska föräldrar, vilket innebär att personalen träder i föräldrarnas ställe. Personalen bär på ett stort ansvar att ge klienten stöd och skydd, men också omsorg och gränssättning på ett professionellt sätt. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka hur personalen inom HVB-hem arbetar för att möta och tillgodose klientens individuella behov. För att ta reda på detta har vi undersökt två HVB-hem i två olika kommuner i Sverige. Då uppsatsen bygger på en komparativ analys med kvalitativ ansats valde vi att jämföra två olika HVB-enheter, nämligen ett privat och ett kommunalt, för att se om det finns skillnader och likheter i arbetssättet för att tillgodose klientens individuella behov. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom intervjuer med totalt åtta personal i båda HVB-enheter. Studien ledde fram till ett resultat som visade flest likheter mellan det kommunala och det privata HVB-hem som vi undersökte. En av likheterna som framkom, utifrån det empiriska materialet, var att klienternas individuella behov handlar främst om trygghet, kärlek och omsorg. En ytterligare likhet var att personalen kommunicerar utifrån ett lågaffektivt bemötande för att uppfylla klienternas individuella behov. En annan likhet var att det rådde total enighet bland respondenterna om att kommunikation och god relation är det mest väsentliga i arbetet med barn och unga med diagnoser. Av samtliga respondenter nämndes vikten av lågaffektivt bemötande, empati och tålamod, särskilt då det kan uppstå svårigheter i arbetet med barn och unga med någon form av diagnos. Att vi fick fram dessa likheter är för at samtliga hem för vård eller boende (HVB) i Sverige arbetar under socialtjänstens lag samt mål. Utifrån resultatet kan konstateras att klientens individuella behov tillgodoses på närliknande sätt och metoder på respektive HVB-hem som vi undersökt. / In Sweden, there is something called community care, that is, care and treatment of different target groups in a 24-hour environment. Placement in community care can be done in four different forms of care, namely family home, homes for care or living (HVB), special youth homes and assisted living facilities. HVB-home works on behalf of the social service, which receives children and young people for care or treatment in association with a residence. The children and young people who are placed in an HVB-home live with someone other than their biological parents, which means that the staff take the place of the parents. The staff bear an important responsibility to provide the client with support and protection, but also care and boundary setting in a professional manner. This essay aims to investigate how the staff within HVB homes work to meet and satisfy the client's individual needs. To find out, we investigated two HVB homes in two different municipalities in Sweden. Since the essay is based on a comparative analysis with a qualitative approach, we chose to compare two different HVB units, one private and one municipal, to see if there are differences in the way of working to meet the client's individual needs. The material has been collected through interviews with eight personnel in the respective HVB units. The study led to a result that showed the most similarities between the municipal and private HVB homes that we examined. One of the similarities that emerged, based on the empirical material, was that the clients' individual needs are primarily about safety and care. A further similarity was that the staff communicate based on a low-affective approach to fulfill the clients' individual needs. Another similarity was that there was total agreement among the respondents that communication and good relationships are the most essential in working with children and young people with diagnoses. All respondents mentioned the importance of a low-emotional approach, empathy and patience, especially when difficulties can arise when working with children and young people with some form of diagnosis. The fact that we found these similarities is because all homes for care or living (HVB) in Sweden work under the social services law and goals. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the client's individual needs are met in closely similar ways and methods at the respective HVB homes that we examined.

Den som arbetar inom den sociala barnavården har en betydande samhällsuppgift med olika utmaningar. I Sverige har socialarbetare det yttersta ansvaret att se till att barn växer upp under trygga omständigheter. Den tidigare forskningen presenterar huvudsakligen den negativa sidan av den sociala barnavården och fokuserar mycket på personalomsättning samt hur det kan motverkas. Under studietiden har författarna och deras studiekamrater dessutom blivit uppmanade att inte arbeta med barn direkt efter examen. Syftet med denna uppsats var därför att undersöka vad som driver socialarbetare att arbeta inom den sociala barnavården under en längre tid och vilka organisatoriska förutsättningar som gör att drivet och engagemanget kvarstår. Datainsamlingen grundar sig i en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer där sex socialarbetare inom den sociala barnavården har deltagit. Resultatet redovisas i fyra olika huvudteman: Personligt engagemang, Positiva upplevelser, Personliga krav och Utvecklingsområden. Dessa teman har analyserats utifrån de teoretiska utgångspunkterna känsla av sammanhang (KASAM), kognitiv dissonansteori, resiliens och handlingsutrymme. Utifrån uppsatsens resultat har författarna dragit slutsatsen att den sociala barnavården inte lever upp till sitt rykte, vilket är positivt i detta fall. / Those who work in social childcare have a significant task with various challenges. In Sweden, social workers have the ultimate responsibility to ensure that children grow up under safe circumstances. Previous research mainly presents the negative side of social childcare and focuses a lot on staff turnover and how to prevent it. At the university, the authors and fellow students have been advised not to work with children immediately after graduation. The purpose of this essay was therefore to investigate what drives social workers to work in social childcare for a longer period and what organizational factors ensure that the drive and commitment remain. The data collection is based on a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews where six social workers in social childcare have participated. The results are presented in four different main themes: Personal commitment, Positive experiences, Personal requirements and Development areas. These themes have been analyzed based on sense of coherence (SOC), cognitive dissonance theory, resilience and discretion. Based on the results of the essay, the authors have concluded that social childcare does not live up to its reputation, which is positive in this case.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur socialt arbete med barnavård framställs i media och hur porträtteringen påverkar enskilda socialarbetare inom yrkesfältet. Studiens genomförande bestod av att sammanställa tillgänglig forskning inom området genom en litteraturstudie. Materialet bearbetades genom tematisk analys, och analyserades sedan utifrån Meads teori om jaget och maskerna samt Goffmans dramaturgiska perspektiv. Resultatet visade att media generellt sett tenderar att framhäva misslyckanden och osynliggöra positiva aspekter av det sociala arbetet med barn och unga. Vidare framkom att socialarbetare verksamma inom området upplevde att en alltjämt negativ och ensidig bild av professionen framhävs i media. Detta har lett till ett undvikande förhållningssätt gentemot media bland socialarbetare. Något förvånande visade resultatet att allmänhetens förtroende och uppfattning inte tycks påverkas av negativ porträttering av socialarbetare i lika hög utsträckning som den påverkar enskilda socialarbetare. En övergripande slutsats var att socialarbetares förhållningssätt till media påverkar den offentliga bilden av professionen. Implikationer för det sociala arbetet diskuterades. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how child welfare social work is portrayed in the media and how the portrayal affects individual social workers within the professional field. The implementation of the study consisted of compiling available research in the field through a literature study. The material was processed through thematic analysis, and then analyzed based on Mead's theory of the self and masks and Goffman's dramaturgical perspective. The results show that the general perception among social workers is that the media tends to highlight failures and shortcomings in social work. Furthermore, it appeared that child welfare social workers feel that a negative and one-sided image of the profession is still emphasized in the media. Consequently, this has led to an avoidant approach among social workers in relation to the media. A somewhat surprising finding was that the public's trust and perception does not seem to be affected by negative portrayals of social workers in the media to the same extent as it affects individual social workers. An overall conclusion was that social workers' approach to the media have contributed to the public image of the profession. Implications for social work was discussed.

This study aims to describe and analyse the ideas behind and the function of the NGO Maskrosbarn’s advocate services for children (barnombud) during child welfare investigations. The main focus is the advocate services relation to children’s participation. The study has a qualitative case-study approach and contains documents from the local authorities and interviews with eight representatives in six different positions such as child advocates, youth and social workers. An analysis has been made using Shier’ (2001) and Hart’s (1992) theories of child participation and theories about human service organisations (Hasenfeldt, 1983), the New Institutional Theory (Meyer & Rowan, 1977) and the street-level bureaucrat theory (Lipsky, 1980). One main obstacle for child participation in child welfare investigation, shown in the study, is organisational conditions and social workers’ position in public authority. By creating a relationship built on trust, the child advocate supports the child in the investigation process and has the ability to increase the child’s participation and thereby overcome the gap between the social worker and the child. This study highlights the importance of an active cooperation between the child advocate services and the social services, and also of a shared view on the meaning of participation.