Children whose families live in economic hardship tend not to participate in social activitiesthat involve money. Economically disadvantaged children are described as those who, due toinsufficient financial resources, have difficulty living a life similar to other children in thesame community. Social workers are legally obligated to specifically consider the bestinterests of the child in measures concerning children and to use both the Social Services Actand the Convention on the Rights of the Child in their decisions. Thus, a social worker isobliged to consider the child's rights, the child's perspective, and the child's best interests intheir work. The purpose of this study is to investigate how social workers in financial aid usetheir discretion to protect children's rights in accordance with the four core principles of theConvention on the Rights of the Child. The study employs a qualitative method withsemi-structured interviews to obtain the perceptions of two different professional groups onwhether social workers in financial aid are considered to uphold the four core principles ofthe Convention on the Rights of the Child and whether they believe that social workers usetheir discretion sufficiently to consider children's rights. The collected empirical material wasthen analyzed in various themes connected with previous research and Lipsky's theories ondiscretion and street-level bureaucracy. Research indicates that social workers in financial aidfail to use their discretion to protect the child's rights and to uphold the four core principles ofthe Convention on the Rights of the Child. The study revealed results indicating that socialworkers' decisions regarding children can be influenced by the organization's management, asenior social worker, lack of knowledge, ambiguities in guidelines within the organization,and the absence of child participation in decisions affecting them. Furthermore, it was foundthat social workers' individualized assessments and priorities were crucial in how they choseto use their own discretion. With more opportunities for education on the child's perspectiveand child rights and a developing practice on how children's rights should be considered andapplied in financial aid work, social workers can help prevent more children from becomingvulnerable and experiencing the consequences of such vulnerability. / Barn vars familjer lever i ekonomisk utsatthet tenderar att inte delta i sociala aktiviteter sominkluderar pengar. Ekonomiskt utsatta barn beskrivs vara barn med anledning av otillräckligaekonomiska resurser och har därmed svårigheter med att leva ett likadant liv likt andra barnsom lever i samma samhälle. Socialsekreterare har en skyldighet enligt lag att särskilt beaktabarnets bästa vid åtgärder som rör barn och använda sig av både socialtjänstlagen ochbarnkonventionen vid beslut. En socialsekreterare har därmed skyldighet att beakta barnetsrättigheter, beakta barnperspektivet samt barnets bästa i arbetet. Studiens syfte är attundersöka hur socialsekreterare inom ekonomiskt bistånd använder sitt handlingsutrymme föratt tillvara barnens rättigheter i enlighet med Barnkonventionens fyra grundprinciper. Studienanvänder sig av en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer för att få de två olikayrkesgruppers uppfattningar om socialsekreterare inom ekonomiskt bistånd anses leva upp tillbarnkonventionens fyra grundprinciper samt om de anser att socialsekreterare använder sitthandlingsutrymme tillräckligt för att ta hänsyn till barnens rättigheter. Det insamladeempiriska materialet analyserades sedan i olika teman som anknöts med tidigare forskningoch Lipskys teorier om handlingsutrymme och teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater. Undersökningarpekar på att socialsekreterare inom ekonomiskt bistånd brister i sitt arbete att använda sitthandlingsutrymme för att tillvarata barnets rättigheter samt leva upp till barnkonventionensfyra grundprinciper. Studien fick fram ett resultat som pekade på att socialsekreterarensbeslut rörande barn kan påverkas av organisationens ledning, en förste socialsekreterare,kunskapsbrist, otydligheter i riktlinjer i verksamheten samt inte har barn delaktiga i beslutsom rör dem. Det framkom dessutom att socialsekreterarnas individanpassade prövningar ochprioriteringar var avgörande för hur de väljer att använda sig av sitt handlingsutrymme. Medfler möjligheter till utbildning inom barnperspektivet och barnets rättigheter och enutvecklande verksamhet om hur barns rättigheter ska beaktas och tillämpas i arbetet inomekonomiskt bistånd kan socialsekreterare bidra till att hindra flera barn att bli utsatta och attuppleva konsekvenserna av vad utsattheten för med sig.

The thesis examines accompanied asylum-seeking children’s position in Swedish asylum reception management and in the determination of their claims. The three articles of the thesis focus on children’s own experiences of seeking asylum, on the experiences and practices of the civil servants at the Migration Board, as well as those of the legal representatives that assist asylum-seekers in the application process. The thesis builds on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2008 and 2010 in southwest Sweden. Theoretical inspiration has been sought in the new sociology of childhood as well as in practice theory. The first article in the thesis concerns children’s caseworkers who are responsible for safeguarding children’s interests in the Migration Board’s daily work with reception. The study highlights a range of dilemmas caseworkers have to deal with in their role as frontline bureaucrats. The study shows that the children’s caseworkers often perceive their discretion as limited, but also that they themselves contribute to limiting it, for example due to their hesitation in challenging existing norms and collegiality.    The second article examines the ways in which legal representatives, who act on behalf of families in asylum determinations, in their practice perceive and relate to the concept of children’s best interests and children’s right to participate. The study shows that children in families can become invisible in the legal representatives’ daily rounds. This invisibility is due to practical limitations in the representatives’ work as well as a general view that children rarely have their own grounds for asylum, as separate claimants to their parents. The third paper of the thesis explores the ways in which children experience and seek to influence circumstances that signify their time spent as asylum-seekers. The study shows how the children developed a range of tactics to deal with their particular situations, which varied with their housing and schooling, and the family’s financial resources. The conclusion is that the children themselves are the primary representatives of the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process, not least through their struggle to belong and create a life like that of ’ordinary’ children.  In line with previous research in the field, the thesis points to the contradiction between the principle of regulated migration and the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process. Together with practical circumstances, such as lack of resources, this contradiction results in a more limited implementation of the child perspective than rules and regulations actually stipulate. Finally, the thesis points to the active role asylum-seeking children take in their efforts to create an everyday life that is as similar as possible to that of  the ’ordinary’ children (e.g. non asylum-seeker and permanently settled children) around them. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted.</p>

<p>There is an ongoing discussion in Sweden about child perspective and child’s perspective.</p><p>The municipalities’ family law units are required to include these perspectives in their investigations. But how do they affect the outcome of custody investigations? This essay addresses that issue. I have looked at how much say children have and how much they participate in their custody investigations. I have studied fourteen children, from seven custody investigations, what their views are and how children are presented in these investigations.</p><p>I use a social constructionist theory according to which the way children are viewed is constructed through interactions between people. This essay uses the terms “showing” and “telling” to see how children get their say. In a showing text it is the child who tells the story. In a telling text it is the narrator who is telling us about the child.</p><p>Nine of the children give a clear opinion of which parent they want to live with and how much they want to see the other parent. Eight of the investigations use a showing text to describe the children. These children’s opinions have a greater impact on the investigation than the ones described with a telling text.</p>

There is an ongoing discussion in Sweden about child perspective and child’s perspective. The municipalities’ family law units are required to include these perspectives in their investigations. But how do they affect the outcome of custody investigations? This essay addresses that issue. I have looked at how much say children have and how much they participate in their custody investigations. I have studied fourteen children, from seven custody investigations, what their views are and how children are presented in these investigations. I use a social constructionist theory according to which the way children are viewed is constructed through interactions between people. This essay uses the terms “showing” and “telling” to see how children get their say. In a showing text it is the child who tells the story. In a telling text it is the narrator who is telling us about the child. Nine of the children give a clear opinion of which parent they want to live with and how much they want to see the other parent. Eight of the investigations use a showing text to describe the children. These children’s opinions have a greater impact on the investigation than the ones described with a telling text.

Children’s right to participation in situations that matter to them is stated in law and convention texts and is emphasized by the children themselves in research studies, too. When actively involved, their perspective is visualized. Children’s use of interactive technology has increased considerably during the last decade. The use of applications and web sites are becoming a regular occurrence in paediatric healthcare. The overall aim was to develop and test, together with children, an interactive communication tool meant to facilitate young children’s participation in healthcare situations. To understand children’s varied perceptions of their involvement in healthcare situations, interviews, drawings and vignettes were used in a phenomenographic approach (I). A participatory design iteratively evaluated evolving prototypes of an application (II). Video observations and hermeneutics captured the meanings of the participation cues that the children demonstrated when they used the application in healthcare situations (III). A quantitative approach was used to identify patterns in the children’s cue use (IV). In total, 114 children in two clinical settings and in a preschool were involved. The result showed that the children perceived themselves, their parents and the professionals as actors in a healthcare situation, although all were perceived to act differently (I). The children contributed important information on age-appropriateness, usability and likeability in the iterative evaluating phases that eventually ended up in the application (II). When using the application in healthcare situations, the cues they demonstrated were understood as representing a curious, thoughtful or affirmative meaning (III). Curious cues were demonstrated to the highest extent. The three-year-olds and the children with the least experience of healthcare situations demonstrated the highest numbers of cues (IV). Conclusion: when using the application, the children demonstrated a situated participation which was influenced by their perspective of the situation and their inter-inter-action with the application as well as the health professional. The children’s situated participation provided the professionals’ with additional ways of guiding the children based on their perspectives. / I lag- och konventionstexter, liksom i forskning, som använder barnens egna uttryck betonas deras rättighet att vara delaktiga i situationer av betydelse för dem. Genom att delta kan de göra sitt perspektiv synligt. Under det senaste årtiondet har barns användning av interaktiv teknik ökat kraftigt. Applikationer och web-sidor används nuförtiden även flitigt inom barnsjukvården. Avhandlingens övergripande syfte var att utveckla och pröva, tillsammans med barn, ett interaktivt kommunikationsverktyg avsett att möjliggöra yngre barns delaktighet i vårdsituationer. Intervjuer, teckningar och vignetter användes för att, fenomenografiskt, förstå barnens uppfattningar av att vara i en vårdsituation (I). En iterativ deltagarbaserad design användes för att utveckla en prototyp av en applikation. En hermeneutisk tolkning av video-observationer fångade meningen i barnens sätt att visa sin delaktighet (hintar) vid användningen av applikationen i vårdsituationer (III). En deduktiv, kvantitativ ansats användes för att identifiera mönster i barnens sätt att visa sin delaktighet när de använde applikationen (IV). Resultatet visade att barnen uppfattade sig själva, föräldrarna och vårdpersonalen som aktörer i situationen, även om alla uppfattades agera på olika sätt (I). Barnen bidrog i den iterativa processen med viktig information gällande aspekter som åldersanpassning, användbarhet och hur väl den tilltalar dem, vilket slutligen ledde fram till den färdiga applikationen (II). Barnens sätt att visa sin delaktighet när de använde applikationen förstods ha en nyfiken, tankfull och självbekräftande mening (III). Nyfikenheten visades mest vid användningen av applikationen. Treåringarna samt barnen med minst vårderfarenhet använde applikationen i störst utsträckning (IV). Sammanfattning: när applikationen användes i vårdsituationen visade barnen en situerad delaktighet vilken byggde på deras perspektiv på den aktuella situationen samt på deras inter-inter-aktion med applikationen och vårdpersonalen. Genom detta erbjöds vårdpersonalen ytterligare ett sätt att guida barnet utifrån barnets eget perspektiv.

Denna uppsats tar avstamp i en gestaltning där samlingen samt övergångssituationer ter sig som problematiska. En lärare i förskoleklass vill fostra barnen och gör det utan att kanske se till barnets bästa. I gestaltningen sker det först att barnen behöver bryta upp sin lek för att sedan gå in till en samling som inte är didaktiskt genomtänkt. Sedan kommer övergångssituationer som överlappar varandra och dessa ger upphov till konflikter då de är stressande för både barnen och pedagoger eftersom de måste vänta, vänta fastän de är färdiga att gå. Syftet med uppsatsen är att diskutera vilken fostrande och didaktisk funktion samlingar och olika övergångssituationer fyller i fritidshemmet. Jag lyfter även in barnperspektivet som ett perspektiv. Uppsatsen tar upp normer och dolda läroplanen som påverkar vår undervisning. Uppsatsen är skriven i formen av en vetenskaplig essä där min reflektion ger mig möjlighet att belysa och fördjupa mina frågeställningar samt söka svar på dessa kopplat till litteratur inom pedagogiken. Slutsatsen av denna uppsats är att vi inom fritidshemmet ofta styrs av gamla mönster genom de normer som vi upprätthåller i verksamheten. Det visar sig att fostran är en större del av fritidshemmet än tidigare trott. / This study takes off in a dilemma where the circle time as well as transitional situations appear to be problematic. A teacher in preschool class wants to educate the children and might not always be mindful of what is best for them. In this scenario, the children need to break up their play and then go to a circle time that is not didactically through. Then there are transition situations that overlap, and these give rise to conflicts as they are stressful for both the children and the educators as they must wait, and wait until they are ready to go. The purpose of the study is to discuss what fostering and didactic function circle time and different transition situations fulfil in the after-school activity. I also look at it from a child perspective. The discussion sets out norms and hidden curriculum that affect our teaching. Essay as a method means to reflect on a dilemma where my reflection gives me the opportunity to clarify and deepen my questions and seek answers to these in connection with literature in teaching. The conclusion of this study is that we in the after-school activity are often governed by old patterns by the standards we maintain in the activity. It turns out that fostering is a larger part of the after-school activity than previously thought.

”Say sorry now, it’s time for class” is a scientific essay written with the purpose of investigating to what degree we allow the pupils to take part in the process of solving conflicts. Do we let the pupil’s own thoughts, feelings and ideas be a part of the solution when solving conflicts or do we as teachers take over in these situations? The essay starts with a story portraying situation which is difficult to interpret that I have experienced in my profession in the afterschool care. The story depicts how teachers speak to pupils in different situations and how we talk to them when they are upset. The dilemmas I experienced in these situations are what brought me to this scientific essay. The method used in the scientific essay is writing with a hermeneutic approach, this means that I will focus on my own experiences and thoughts. I will reference literature and theories thereby deepening my reflections in order to learn from my own actions and evolve in my role as extended school teacher. Ross Greene’s theory of CPS (collaborative &amp; proactive solutions) is the most prominent theory in this essay. / ”Säg förlåt nu, det är dags för lektion!” är en vetenskaplig essä skriven med syftet att undersöka till hur stor del vi låter eleverna vara delaktiga i processen kring konflikthantering. Låter vi elevernas egna tankar, känslor och idéer ta plats vid konflikthantering eller är det vi pedagoger som tar över dessa situationer? Essän utgår från en berättelse som gestaltar svårbedömda situationer som jag erfarit i min yrkesroll på fritidshemmet. Berättelsen skildrar hur pedagoger bemöter elever i olika konfliktsituationer och hur vi pratar med dem när de är i affekt. De dilemman jag upplever i dessa situationer är det som för mig vidare in i denna undersökande essä. I min vetenskapliga essä använder jag skrivandet som metod, samt tar mig an ett hermeneutiskt förhållningssätt, detta gör att jag sätter mina egna erfarenheter och tankar i fokus. Jag väver även in litteratur och teorier kring min erfarenhet och fördjupar min reflektion i syfte att lära mig från mina egna handlingar och utvecklas i min roll som blivande grundlärare med inriktning mot fritidshem. Ross Greenes teori kring samarbetsbaserad problemlösning CPS är den teori som lyfts mest i denna essä.

Syftet med den här studien är att bidra till en bredare kunskapsbas för hur barns rättigheter beaktas i den fysiska planeringen. Forskningsmålet har uppnåtts genom granskning av Barnkonventionen i fysisk planering och stadsutveckling. Rapporten behandlar de hinder och utmaningar som Sveriges myndigheter och kommuner möter vid tillämpning av barnperspektiv i fysisk planering. Med hänsyn för tillgänglighet, presenterar denna studie en övergripande beskrivning av etablerade samhällsfaktorer som påverkar Sveriges myndigheters och kommuners arbete med stadsutveckling. Studien tillämpar en kvalitativ innehållsanalys, i syfte att synliggöra bakomliggande budskap i den granskade rapporten. Innehållsanalysen består av fyra delprocesser; insamling av data, kodning, tematisering, samt verifiering av analysens slutsats. Genom Boverkets rapport synliggör innehållsanalysen hur och vilka utmaningar som påverkar barnkonventionens beaktning i fysisk planering. Resultatet bidrar till ökad förståelse för aktuella utmaningar som berör samhällsplaneringens aktörer. Majoriteten av de textstycken som analyserades, visade att behov och vägledning är centrala faktorer för det omställningsarbete som ska genomföras inom svensk samhällsbyggnad. Boverkets rapport lyfter behov av vidare utredning och framtida vägledning i inkorporeringen av barnkonventionen. Kortsiktigt kan resurs- och kompetensbehov i mindre kommuner lindras genom centralisering av barnrättsarbeten, med Boverket som huvudansvarig myndighet. En del av syftet med centraliseringen är att arbetsmetoder och strategier kan standardiseras, vilket kan bidra till en konsekvent och rättvis tillämpning av barnkonventionen nationellt. / The purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge base of childrens rights application in urban planning. The research goal has been achieved by examining the Convention on the Rights of the Child in spatial planning and urban development. The report addresses obstacles and challenges that Swedish authorities and municipalities encounter during application of child perspective's in urban planning. With regard to accessibility, this study presents an overall description of established societal factors that affect the Swedish authorities' and municipalities' work with urban development. The study uses a qualitative content analysis in order to highlight underlying messages in the reviewed report. The content analysis consists of four sub-processes; data collection, coding, thematization, and verification of the analysis’ conclusion. Through Boverket’s report, the content analysis highlights challenges that affect the application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in physical planning. The result contributes to an increased understanding of current challenges that affect participants in the process of urban planning. The majority of the analyzed text shows that needs and guidance are central factors for the coming adjustments in Swedish spatial planning. Boverket’s report highlights the need for further investigation and future guidance in the incorporation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In short term, the requirements associated with lack of resources and competence in smaller municipalities can be alleviated by centralizing Boverket as the main responsible authority for child rights work. Part of the purpose of centralization is that methods and strategies can be standardized, which can contribute to a consistent and fair application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on national scale.

This essay is a scientific essay that centers around a story based on a self-experienced dilemma about a shy and silent child who does not communicate with the pedagogues at the preschool nor the majority of the other children. The child chooses to only communicate through her best friend and is then able to use both body- and verbal language, and it is only through this friend that others learn what the child wants.   The purpose of the essay is to examine how preschools satisfy the needs of silent and shy children, by studying my own actions in the described story. The questions at issue which are studied in this essay include how I as a future preschool teacher can support the silent and withdrawn children. Which tools and strategies pedagogues can use to uplift them. How I as a pedagogue can include these children and make them participate in the preschool’s activities. As well as how pedagogues relate to the need of interaction among silent children. These questions are answered through the writing of the essay where my practical knowledge, which constitutes of 17 years of working as a caretaker of children, and theoretical perspectives such as the theory of connection and a sociocultural perspective are applied. An interview with a certified speech therapist has also been conducted. The conclusions that can be made are that there are several possible tools and strategies that can be used to include and facilitate for the silent and shy children in the preschool, for example picture-support, smaller groups of children or that you as an pedagogue participate yourself and give the child roles within the plays that it is able to manage. Furthermore, an important lesson is that the theoretical perspectives constitute a crucial support for pedagogues in their approach towards shy children, that it is important to do a mapping of the shy children in terms of what causes the difficulties and when they arise, and also to always proceed from the individual child’s needs so that every child at the preschool gets the best possibilities for education. / Denna uppsats är en vetenskaplig essä som utgår ifrån en berättelse som utgörs av ett egenupplevt dilemma om ett blygt och tystlåtet barn som inte kommunicerar med pedagogerna på förskolan eller majoriteten av de andra barnen. Barnet väljer att endast att kommunicera via sin bästa kompis och kan då använda både kroppsspråk och verbalt språk, och det är endast genom kompisen som andra får veta vad barnet vill. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur förskolan tillgodoser tystlåtna och blyga barns behov, genom att studera mitt eget handlade i den beskrivna berättelsen. De frågeställningar som studeras i uppsatsen inkluderar hur jag som framtida förskolelärare kan stödja de tystlåtna och tillbakadragna barnen. Vilka verktyg och strategier pedagoger kan använda för att lyfta fram dem. Hur jag som pedagog kan inkludera dessa barn och få dem delaktiga i aktiviteterna på förskolan. Samt hur pedagoger förhåller sig till behovet av samspel hos tystlåtna barn. Dessa frågeställningar besvaras genom essäskrivande där min praktiska kunskap, som består av 17 års arbete som barnskötare, samt teoretiska perspektiv som anknytningsteorin och ett sociokulturellt perspektiv tillämpas. En intervju med en legitimerad logoped har också genomförts. Slutsatser som kan dras är att det finns flera möjliga verktyg och strategier som kan användas för att inkludera och underlätta för de tystlåtna och blyga barnen i förskolan, bland annat bild-stöd, mindre barngrupper eller att man som pedagog själv deltar och ger barnet roller i leken som den klarar av. En viktig lärdom är vidare att de teoretiska perspektiven utgör ett väsentligt stöd för pedagoger i sitt bemötande av blyga barn, att det är viktigt att göra en kartläggning av de blyga barnen kring vad som orsakar svårigheterna och när de uppstår, samt att alltid utgå från det enskilda barnets behov så att alla barn på förskolan får de bästa förutsättningarna för lärande.

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’.