Tidigare forskning kring funktionshindrade elevers skolgång och behov har oftast kretsat runt föräldrarnas eller andra vuxnas perspektiv. Barn och unga med funktionshinder har setts med vuxnas ögon. Röster och erfarenheter från barn och ungdomar med funktionshinder har i stort saknats i utredningar och betänkanden. Detta trots att Sverige förbundit sig att efterleva FN:s konvention om barnets rättigheter och inlemma barn och unga i beslutsprocesser. Med utgångspunkt från artikel 12 i FN:s barnkonvention, om barns rätt att höras och bli hörda och den nyligen initierade utredningen om bland annat behovet av en specialskola för elever i gymnasieålder, samt kommunernas möjlighet att anordna utbildning för elever med vissa funktionshinder, var syftet med den aktuella studien att belysa funktionshindrade barn och ungdomars erfarenheter och upplevelser av sin skolsituation. Metoden som använts i denna studie är kvalitativ och med hjälp av en relativt ny och kreativ teknik som kallas ”höringar” försökte vi kartlägga och fördjupa kunskaperna om hörselskadade och döva ungdomars skollinje och erfarenheter från olika skolformer. Utifrån ett barnperspektiv försökte vi besvara dessa frågeställningar; Hur upplever RGD/RGH-elever sin nuvarande skolsituation? Hur gestaltar sig deras erfarenheter av tidigare skolformer? Är ”höringar” en användbar teknik för att få fram de döva och hörselskadades röster? Målgruppen för den aktuella studien består av nio döva och hörselskadade ungdomar som går på riksgymnasiet för döva och hörselskadade i Örebro. Avsikten med studien har inte varit att utröna vilken skolform som kan anses mest lämplig för döva och hörselskadade elever. Studiens litteraturgenomgång berörde centrala begrepp och definitioner på funktionshinder, från de döva och hörselskadades perspektiv. Det svenska teckenspråkets ställning, förhållandet mellan barnperspektiv och barns perspektiv samt internationella politiska styrdokument låg till grund för denna studie. Resultaten från höringarna presenterades i enlighet med modellen i text och bild, så tolkningsfritt som möjligt. Av resultaten framkom det att ungdomarnas upplevelser och erfarenheter låg i linje med den litteratur som granskats i denna studie. Studien visade att ungdomarna upplevelser av RGD/RGH i stort är positiv när det gäller boende-skola-fritid i Örebro. Slutsatsen blev att, för att kartlägga funktionshindrades upplevelser och erfarenheter med ett barnperspektiv utifrån barnkonventionen, så är tekniken ”höring” en passande metod. / Earlier research concerning disabled children’s school attendance or needs often did focus from the parent’s or other adult’s point of view. Disabled youths and children has been seen through the eyes of the adults. Views and experiences of disabled youth and children has clearly been missing in inquiries and reports. Even though that Sweden has undertaken to live up to UN:s Convention about the Rights of Children and involve young people in the decision-making. Setting out from the UNCRC, article 12, about children’s rights to be heard and the recently proposed inquiry of the need of a special upper secondary school for students with disabilities, and the ability of the municipalities to organize education for students with certain disabilities, the purpose of this study was to shed light upon disabled youths and children’s experiences of their school situation. The method used in this study is qualitative, and with this new and creative technique called ”hearings” we tried to map out and engross the knowledge about the line of school for deaf and heaing impaired youth and their views on these different types of schools. Attempts were made to answer these questions from a child’s perspective; how do RGD/RGH-students find their present schoolsituation? What shapes have their experiences from earlier schools they attended? Was ”hearings” a useful technique to express the views of the young deaf and the hearing impareds? The target group in this study consisted of nine deaf and hearing impared youths attending the national upper secondary school for the deaf and hearing impared in Örebro. The purpose of this study was not to find out what would be the best kind of school for the deaf and hearing impared students. The litterature review in the study touched upon central concepts and definitions on disabilities, from the perspective of deaf and hearing impared. Status of the Swedish sign language, relationship between childperspective/ children’s perspective and international political treaties and document was the basis of this study. The results from the ”hearings” was presented accordingly to this techique in texts and pictures, as free from interpretations as possible. The study concluded that the experiences of these youths were in line with the literature review being used in this study. The study shows that their experiences are of the positive kind concerning housing-school-leisure in Örebro. The study also concluded that, in order to map out the experiences of disabled people from a children’s point of view according to the UNCRC, ”hearing” as a technique is suitable.

Background/aim: The purpose of this sociological study "Genus in the Child's Best Interest" was to, from the Administrative Court's decree about the child's own behavior, further clarify the concept of the child's best interest by studying how the concept is expressed in decrees with focus on genus. Theory: Three genus theories, to compare girls and boys, Mary John's power theory, the grown ups definition of what the reality is and what it should contain, and a labeling theory, where the people with power are the ones to define what's normal and what's not, have been used to analyze the result in this study. Method: A content analyses was used to analyze the decrees, with the focus on girls and boys between the ages of 12 to 19, where they have been forced into treatment by the law. Result: The concept of a child's best interest does make a difference between girls and boys in the decrees, and the girls have more power because they have more room to express themselves and are less responsible for their thoughts and actions. The concept is possible to use, but the definition is subjective and could be colored by the societies values and norms.

Background/aim: The purpose of this sociological study "Genus in the Child's Best Interest" was to, from the Administrative Court's decree about the child's own behavior, further clarify the concept of the child's best interest by studying how the concept is expressed in decrees with focus on genus. Theory: Three genus theories, to compare girls and boys, Mary John's power theory, the grown ups definition of what the reality is and what it should contain, and a labeling theory, where the people with power are the ones to define what's normal and what's not, have been used to analyze the result in this study. Method: A content analyses was used to analyze the decrees, with the focus on girls and boys between the ages of 12 to 19, where they have been forced into treatment by the law. Result: The concept of a child's best interest does make a difference between girls and boys in the decrees, and the girls have more power because they have more room to express themselves and are less responsible for their thoughts and actions. The concept is possible to use, but the definition is subjective and could be colored by the societies values and norms.

The purpose of this study was to explore if and how the Swedish Supreme Court are using the concept “the child’s best interest”. This concept is used a lot in Swedish legislation, but it needs interpretation every time it´s used and is often perceived as unclear. This makes it interesting to see how this affects the individual child´s legal rights. Furthermore I want to see if the Supreme Court listen to the child´s own opinion and if not, are there any justifications to why not. The study has a quantitative starting point, where I have gone through a number of judgments and then chosen seven out of a qualitative point where there has been a discussion from the Supreme Court around the individual and the best interest of the child for the individual child and the methods of analysis used in this study are social constructionism, legal sociology and analysis of the idea. The study shows a lack of consistency among the professionals of what the concept really stands for, which negatively affects the legal rights for the individual child. The solution is a closer collaboration between social workers, judges and lawyers to make the concept clearer and more applicable.

Mental health is a major child public health issue in Sweden. The overall aims of this thesis are to explore girls’ and boys’ perspectives on mental health and on mental health-promoting initiatives, and to deepen the knowledge of disclosure and support for ado-lescents at risk of abuse and neglect. Four studies are included in the thesis, and a qualitative descriptive design was chosen. In three of the studies (Studies I, II, and III), adolescents in Sweden were interviewed individually or in focus-groups. In the fourth study (IV) officials and politicians in nine municipalities in Sweden were interviewed, and documents were analysed in a multiple-case-study design. In study I the adolescents were asked about the mental health-promoting dialogue with the school nurse. The results reveal that what the adolescents found important were trustiness, attentiveness, respectfulness, authenticity, accessibility, and continuity. The adolescents also had certain views on what issues to talk about in the health dialogue; physical and psychological issues should be included. In Study II, the adolescents perceived “mental health” to be an emotional experience with positive and negative aspects of internal and relational feelings. Family, friends, and school were regarded as important determinants of mental health by the adolescents. Neither girls nor boys thought that there were any major differences in mental health between girls and boys, but did think they were subject to different expectations. In Study III the results show that adolescents with families with alcohol problems are unsure whether to disclose their home situation to an adult; the adolescents seem to make a risk assessment when looking for trustworthy adults. It is a disclosure process. Friends are confidants and supportive, and sometimes facilitators for contacting adults, when support from adults is needed. Study IV show that even small grants to municipalities for children-at-risk projects lead to more activities for these children and adolescents. But children or adolescents were not involved in the planning or decision-making of the activities. The studies in this thesis show that most important thing for adolescents’ mental health is the relation between adolescents and adults, foremost parents, and between adolescents and friends. In addition, gender and age, adolescents’ perspec¬tives and par-ticipation, and society’s support, including the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, have an impact on adolescents’ mental health, both for ado-lescents in general and for adolescents at risk of abuse and neglect. The results are viewed in relation to the bioecological model, to illustrate how all levels in society influence mental health among adolescents, on an individual and a population plane. The findings have implications for adults: to learn more about adolescents and puberty, and about the home situation for children and adolescents at risk of abuse and neglect; to listen to suggestions from children and adolescents; to include friends in support to adolescents at risk of abuse and neglect; and to include girls and boys in all matters concerning them.

Recent changes and amendments have been made in the Swedish Aliens Act (2005:716), regarding the possibility of a permanent residence permit. These rules are regulated in Ch. 5 sec. 7 para. 1 and in Ch. 5 sec. 8 para. 2 in the Swedish Aliens Act. These amendments were made in the light of the modern society, dealing with the problem of migrant offenders in Sweden, only a couple of years after the Convention on the Rights of the Child was incorporated into Swedish law. Nonetheless, these rules have been criticized by various legislative bodies and human rights organizations. Hence, the special requirements that apply according to these conducted provisions in the Aliens Act raise questions about the child perspective in these rules. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the premises on which these rules rest, and the consideration taken of the child being a child, the child perspective, in these rules and how they relate to Sweden’s international commitments, mainly the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The purpose includes identifying and highlighting problems with the legislation and the need for changes in the Swedish law.  The conclusion drawn is that the studied provisions are not compatible with the statements made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding the interpretation of the Convention, and that the legislation needs to be changed for Sweden to live up to the international obligations in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, so that these rules are reasonably legally secure and non-discriminatory. Furthermore, the conclusion is that the child in the studied provisions is not constructed as a child in need of protection, but rather as an adult being punished – as “a person”– an unwanted one – a ‘persona non grata’.

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka vilka faktorer som styr socialsekreterares arbete med barns rätt och delaktighet samt vilken betydelse barnkonventionen har i socialsekreterarens arbete och om det har skett någon förändring sedan barnkonventionen inkorporerades som lag.  Studien baserades på fem kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Tre av intervjuerna genomfördes med personer som arbetar som socialsekreterare och två intervjuer med personer som i dagsläget arbetar som biträdande enhetschefer på en familjeenhet. Resultatet av studien har bearbetats utifrån en tematisk analys, för att sedan analyseras utifrån de teoretiska perspektiven systemteori, ekologisk systemteori och gräsrotsbyråkrati samt de teoretiska begreppen barnperspektiv och barns perspektiv. Det som framkommit av studien gällande våra frågeställningar om faktorer som möjliggör och hindrar socialsekreteraren i arbetet för barnets rätt och barnets bästa, har summerats i två huvudteman med tillhörande subteman. Resultatet av studien har visat att barnkonventionen länge varit en självklar del i socialsekreterarens arbetssätt, både praktiskt och teoretiskt. Därför har lagförandet av barnkonventionen inte gjort någon större skillnad hos socialsekreterarna på familjeenheten. Däremot visar studien att de större förändringarna som skett efter att barnkonventionen blivit lag snarare handlar om andra aktörers arbete, vilket i sin tur har medfört en betydande skillnad i socialsekreterarnas arbete för barnets rättigheter och bästa. Studiens övergripande slutsatser kan sammanfattas i följande punkter; Samhällssystemen styr socialsekreterarens förutsättningar att utföra sitt arbete, Barnkonventionen har gett verktyg för andra aktörer att inta ett barnrättsperspektiv, De organisatoriska förutsättningarna på varje enhet spel en stor roll samt Politikens prioriteringar påverkar socialsekreterarens förutsättningar i stor utsträckning. Avslutningsvis visar resultatet av vår studie att det är många andra faktorer än bara lagar som påverkar förutsättningarna för att socialsekreteraren ska kunna utföra sitt arbete på ett adekvat sätt och att det i nuläget finns fler hinder än möjligheter för en socialsekreterare att arbeta för barnets rättigheter och bästa. / The purpose of this thesis has been to investigate the factors that are influencing govern social workers' work with children's rights and participation and the importance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the work of social workers and whether any changes has occurred since the Convention on the Rights of the Child was incorporated into law. The study was based on five qualitative semi-structured interviews, three of which were conducted with social workers and two with current assistant unit managers in a family unit. The empirical data was analysed using thematic analysis, and the analysis was guided by the theoretical perspectives of systems theory and street level bureaucracy, as well as the theoretical concepts of child perspective and children's perspective. The study has shown that the Convention on the Rights of the Child has always played a natural part in the social workers' working methods, both practically and theoretically. However, the study also reveals that the major changes that have occurred since the Convention on the Rights of the Child became law are more related to the work of other actors rather than the social workers encountered in this study.  The overall conclusions of the study can be summarized in the following points; Social systems determine the social worker's ability to perform their work, Political priorities affect the social worker's conditions to a great extent, The Convention on the Rights of the Child has provided tools for other actors to adopt a child rights perspective, The organizational conditions in each unit play a major role. In conclusion, the results of our study show that there are many factors other than just laws that affect the conditions for the social worker to be able to perform their work adequately, therefore there are currently more obstacles than opportunities for a social worker to work for the rights and best interests of the child.

The Swedish Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (known as LSS) is said to hold strong rights regarding support intended to empower people with severe disabilities. This study investigates to which extent children are attributed rights in the preparatory work for the LSS and in the administrative court’s judgments. Using qualitative content analysis, this study finds that there is a strong disa-bility rights perspective in the preparatory work but a general ambiguity concerning whether the perspective covers children. The absence of a disability rights perspective in court records concerning children can be under-stood in light of this ambiguity. Other findings include a strong parent perspective and an absent or weak chil-dren's rights perspective in both the preparatory work and court judgments. Children are seldom given a voice or made visible as social actors with rights of their own. Instead, children are described as family members and the care responsibilities of parents – who, in turn, have a voice and are seen as in need of support. The thesis con-cludes that there is a need to clarify the rights of the child in the LSS and how these should be prioritized against parents' interests.

The Convention on the rights of the child (CRC) stipulates a set of rights for all children and declares that all national legislation should be in compliance with the convention. The CRC states that the best interests of the child shall be of primary consideration in all actions concerning children; that every child has the right to protection of their family relations as well as the right to know about its parents. The purpose of this study is to investigate how well does the Swedish regulation of establishing legal parenthood comply with the child’s family oriented rights stipulated by the CRC. The study uses a critical legal dogmatic method and is analysed from a theory of the best interests of the child principle. The result shows that the Swedish law strongly protects the child’s right to know about his/her genetic origin. However, the findings illustrate that the mentioned right is often seen as synonymous for what is best for the child, and therefore leaves no space for questioning other aspects that may affect the child’s well-being. Furthermore the results demonstrate that the Swedish family law mainly protects hetero normative families where none of the parents has changed their legal gender. The further away from this norm that the child’s family is, the more complicated it is to establish legal parenthood and therefor harder to protect the child’s right to its family relations. The paper argues that the Swedish family law hence leaves little space for what could be seen as the best interest of a specific child in a specific context, and by doing so diverges from the CRC which advocates contextually when analysing what is best for the child. The paper concludes that a more flexible law where the best interests of the child can be taken into account in greater extent could secure the rights of the child more effectively.

This study examines how the new temporary law (SFS 2016:752) guarantees the child’s right to mental health; focusing on the asylum-seeking unaccompanied minor. This subject is examined since the Swedish law that regulates migration got reduced to the minimum standards that can be found in the EU and in international conventions when Sweden received 163 000 asylum seekers during 2015. 35 400 of them were unaccompanied minors. This leads to the question if the new regulations jeopardize the child’s right to mental health. To answer that, this study’s theoretical ground that will be used is legal positivism. By practicing a legal-judicial method and law-based sociological method the study follows three questions; 1. What is Sweden bound to guarantee according to the Convention on the Right’s of the child, associated with the mental health of children and the provisions of the temporary law? 2. Does the temporary law constitute grounds for existential uncertainty, and is it thereby violating the child’s right to mental health? 3. What does the situation look like, related to the mental health of asylum-seeking unaccompanied minors? In relation to the Convention on the Right’s of the Child this temporary law, and the impact of it, is examined. In the discussion it is clear that not only article 24 (the child’s right to health) is fundamental to the question of mental health, but several other articles. The result of this study has shown that the temporary law clearly violates the asylum-seeking unaccompanied child’s right to mental health.