The Child Security Act (CSA) became legislated as a measurement to protect children from the infliction of psychological harm caused by witnessing domestic violence. The law was introduced as recently as July 2021 and is still new to such a degree that no research has been done about the impact it has had on social workers. Therefore, this study aims to map out the effects the CSA has had on social worker’s conducts when dealing with cases involving children and youth that has witnessed domestic violence, as well as how the CSA has affected the social worker’s use of their professional discretion. To study the topic, this study poses two questions; “To which capacity does social workers use the CSA in their work with children and youth who has witnessed domestic violence?”, and “How can social worker’s professional conduct be problematized by an analysis of the correlation between social worker’s own estimates of the influences by the CSA and their own discretion?  The gathering of information was conducted using an online survey, and sent out to every local government in Sweden, as well as the local social services offices that publicized their email contact information, the survey was also publicized on a social media platform. The survey received 378 responses with at least one from every region of Sweden.   This paper uses Lipsky’s term of discretion as a theoretical framework to interpret the survey’s findings. This means that this paper looks at the findings from the viewpoint of the social worker’s ability to use their own judgement to determine the proper course of action when dealing with their cases. The survey answers were coded into six different variables, these variables covered information, discretion, work with the children, the legislation of the CSA in their work and organization, the social workers experiences of their own capacity to help children as well as their own judgement and assessments of cases involving children. The last variable covered how the social workers estimate they have time to do what is needed for their work with children  The survey results show that the CSA had an impact on the social workers work with children, how they asses their own professional discretion, their capacity to help children, their own judgement in cases involving children as well how much time they have for their work with children. The results also show that the social workers answer that they aren't familiar with the CSA or got enough information regarding the law. The results also show that social workers don’t often use the CSA in their work with children and youth but that they find the law important and necessary.

År 2021 trädde en ny lag om barnfridsbrott i kraft, vilket innebär att det är straffbart att barn bevittnar brott i nära relationer. Studiens syfte var att undersöka socialsekreterares upplevelser och erfarenheter av hur barnfridsbrottslagen påverkat det praktiska arbetet med barn som har bevittnat våld i nära relationer. För att uppnå syftet valdes en kvalitativ ansats och sju semistrukturerade intervjuer med socialsekreterare genomfördes. Empirin analyserades med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt för analysen valdes organisationsteori ur ett Human Resource-perspektiv samt begreppen “barnperspektivet” och “barnets bästa”. Resultatet tolkades även mot bakgrund av tidigare forskning om barnfridsbrottslagen och socialtjänstens praktiska arbete med barn som upplevt våld. Resultatet visade att ett fåtal av socialsekreterarna upplevde sig ha tillräckligt med kunskap om lagstiftningen och majoriteten önskade mer kunskap. De mest påtagliga förändringarna i arbetet efter införandet av lagen var att socialsekreterare bör överväga om polisanmälan ska göras, det blir tydligare i kommunikation med föräldrar att det är brottsligt för barn att bevittna våld samt att lagen möjliggör att kunna bryta det våldsamma mönstret. De mest framträdande utmaningarna var att det krävs ett grundbrott, att det är svårt att närma sig våldsproblematiken med både föräldrar och barn samt att polisförhör tenderar att dröja. Förbättringsmöjligheter som socialsekreterare önskade var tydligare beskrivningar på; centrala begrepp och ansvarsfördelningar mellan olika professioner. Slutsatsen var att socialsekreterare är i behov av mer stöd och resurser för att kunna arbeta med barnfridsbrottslagen på bästa sätt och för att de ska kunna ha en samsyn kring arbetet. / In Sweden, since 2021, it is illegal to let children witness domestic violence. In this qualitative study, we investigate social workers’ experiences regarding the question of how the respective law affects their work with children and adolescents. We conducted seven semi-structured interviews with social workers. The data was analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. The theoretical starting point of the analysis was organization theory from a Human Resource-perspective and the concepts “child perspective” and “best interest of the child”. We also refer to previous research on the new law and the practical work of the social services. The results of the study show that a few social workers feel that they have enough knowledge of the legislation and the majority wish for more knowledge. The most obvious change is that social workers need to consider filing a police report, that it can be clearly communicated that it is criminalized to let children witness domestic violence and a possibility to break the violent pattern. Challenges with the law was that a fundamental crime is required, to approach the problem of violence with parents and children and that police interrogation tends to be delayed. Suggestions for improvements are clearer descriptions of central concepts and distribution of responsibilities between different professions. The conclusion was that social workers need additional support and resources to be able to work with the new law in the best way to be able to have a consensus regarding the work.