The aim of this study was to explore absent fathers' experiences. This involved determining absent fathers' conceptualisation of fatherhood, exploring the psychological well-being of absent fathers, and how absent fathers cope with being absent from their children‟s lives. An ecosystemic approach was employed as the epistemology to understand the participants in terms of organisation of their behaviour in social contexts. Qualitative research was used, and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect the data. The research found that these fathers' experiences of being absent from their children's lives have negatively affected several aspects of their lives, both emotionally and behaviourally. Furthermore, the study concluded that fathers who are absent from their children‟s lives, while aware of the roles they need to play, seem unable to fulfil these roles. Lastly, the absent fathers revealed a tendency to react ambivalently towards their identities as fathers. / Psychology / M. A. (Clinical Psychology)

Syftet med studien är att visa hur domstolar resonerar kring våld samt beslutar i domar gällande vårdnad, boende och umgänge när det förekommer uppgifter om våld. När föräldrar inte kan enas i vårdnadsrelaterade frågor kan de vända sig till domstolen och statistik visar att antalet tvistemål har fördubblats det senaste decenniet. Under de senaste årtiondena har större reformer genomförts i Föräldrabalkens (1949:381) 6 kapitel, vilket är det kapitel domstolen ska utgå ifrån när den dömer i ett vårdnadsmål. Många av förändringarna har syftat till att öka möjligheten till gemensam vårdnad, växelvist boende och umgängesrätt. Det går inte att objektivt fastställa vad som är barnets bästa och därför blir domstolens bedömning avgörande i varje enskilt fall. Domstolen ska särskilt titta på; barnets behov av en nära och god kontakt med båda föräldrar, risken för att barnet far illa, barnets egen vilja och kontinuitetsprincipen. När domstolen ska besluta i vårdnadsmål innehållande uppgifter om våld måste dessa alltid prövas och en riskbedömning göras. Om domstolen finner en risk för att barnet kommer att fara illa så bör detta väga tungt i helhetsbedömningen. Om en förälder tidigare utsatt eller utsätter barnet eller annan familjemedlem för våld och andra kränkningar är det som princip bäst att den föräldern inte får ha vårdnad om barnet. Våld mot barn kan vara allt ifrån nypningar och förolämpningar till grova sexuella övergrepp och tortyr. Många barn upplever våld mot andra familjemedlemmar. Uppsatsens huvudsakliga empiri består av 27 hovrättsdomar i vårdnadsrelaterade mål avkunnade mellan november 2018 och mars 2019, vilka alla innehåller uppgifter om våld. Under studien har jag använt mig av flera metoder. En rättsvetenskaplig metod har använts i arbetet med att redovisa gällande rätt kring vårdnad om barn samt våld mot barn. Med hjälp av en kvantitativ innehållsanalys granskade jag de uppgifter om våld som förekommer i domarna samt våldets omfattning. Med denna metod granskades även det domstolen fastställt genom dom. För att kunna gå in mer på djupet och granska hur domstolen resonerar kring uppgifterna om våld kompletterades den kvantitativa studien med en diskursanalys. Resultatet visar att domstolen ofta förminskar det uppgivna våldet, när domstolen beskriver våldet används ord som ”samarbetssvårigheter” och ”högljudda konflikter” och en våldsutsatt förälders, mammans i denna studie, samt barnets utsaga ifrågasätts ofta. I 19 av 27 domar (70 procent) tilldelas våldsutövaren, pappan i denna studie, vårdnad och/eller umgänge och detta visar på att domstolen i hög grad anser att en våldsutövande förälder är en lämplig umgängesförälder. Domstolen har en betydande roll i avgörandet om vad som är ”verkligt” samt besitter stor makt att besluta över barnets framtida uppväxt. Domstolen betonar vikten av en god och nära relation till båda föräldrar men den ”goda” relationen kan enligt min mening inte uppnås när barnet utsätts för direkt eller indirekt våld. / The purpose of the study is to show how courts reasons about violence and determines in judgments concerning custody, housing and child contact when there is information about violence. When parents are incapable of deciding on custody-related issues, they are to turn to the court. Whereby, statistics show that civil cases in custody-related issues have doubled in the past decade. In the past few decades however, major reforms have been implemented in chapter 6 of the Children and Parents Code (1949:381) in which the court will derive its rulings on, when deciding the fate of any custody-related case. Many of the changes have been aimed at increasing the possibility of joint custody, alternating housing and contact with the parent with whom the child does not live. It is not possible to objectively decide on what is in the best interest of a child thus, a court’s verdict will be decisive in any such civil case. The court must take certain aspects into account, such as; the child’s needs of close relation to both parents, the risk of the child getting abused, the child’s own will and the continuity principle. When the court draws a ruling in custody cases containing information about violence, this infomation must always be thoroughly examined, and a risk assessment has to be made. If the court finds a risk of future harm of the child, this should weigh-in heavily in the overall assesment. If a parent uses violence or has previously subjected the child or other family member to violence and other violations, it is basically best that that parent may not have custody of the child. Violence towards children can be anything from pinching and insults to gross sexual abuse and torture. Many children experiencing domestic violence. The thesis´s main empirical object consists of 27 rulings in custody-related cases annonuced between November 2018 and March 2019, all of which contain information about violence. In writing the thesis, several methods have been used. A method of jurisprudence have been used to navigate the work of reporting on what the current law says about child custody and violence against children. With the help of a quantitative content analysis method, I examined the information about violence that appears in the judgments and the extent of that violence. This method also examined what the court determined by judgment. To be able to examine courts rulings more in depth and examine how courts reasons with the given information about violence the quantitative study was supplemented with a discourse analysis. The findings show that courts often diminish alleged violence. The court describes violence with words, such as “unpleasantness” and “loud conflicts” and the statement of a parent who´is subjected to violence, the mother in this study, and a child’s statement are often questioned. In 19 out of the 27 rulings (70 %), the violent parent, the father in this study, is assigned custody and/or contact with the child which shows that the court to a larger extent considers a violent parent as a suitable parent. The court has a crucial role in deciding what is real and possesses great power to decide on the child's future upbringing. The court emphasizes on the importance of a good and close relationship with both parents, in my opinion however, the ”good” relationship cannot be achieved when the child is subjected to direct or indirect violence.

Within the context of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments the recognition and enforcement of foreign custody orders is unique. By reason of the fact that custody orders are always modifiable "in the best interests of the child" they cannot be regarded as final orders and are thus not capable of recognition and enforcement on the same basis as final orders. The failure of courts to afford foreign custody orders recognition and enforcement in the normal course has created the potential for a person deprived of the custody of a child to remove the child from the jurisdiction of a court rendering a custody order to another jurisdiction within which he or she may seek a new, more favourable order. This potential for behaviour in contempt of an existing order has been exploited by numerous parents who feel aggrieved by custody orders. The problem of parental child snatching has escalated to such a degree that the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was drawn up to introduce uniform measures amongst member states to address this problem. Despite being a meaningful step in the fight against international child abduction the Hague Convention does not fully resolve the problem. For this reason other measures have been suggested to supplement the Convention. The different approaches taken in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America to recognition and enforcement of foreign custody orders and the measures to overcome the problem of international child abduction are examined and a comparative methodology applied to the design of a model approach for South Africa. The object of this model is to permit the South African courts to address the international child abduction problem without falling prey to any of the pitfalls experienced elsewhere in the legal systems examined. / Law / LL.D.

Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap kring hur diskurser konkurrerar om vad som är barns bästa och hur dessa styr tingsrättens beslut vid vårdnadstvister när det finns uppgifter om pappans våld mot mamma och eventuellt barn. Det empiriska materialet utgick ifrån 14 domar där det fanns uppgifter om pappans våld inom familjen. Tingsrätten hade som uppgift att döma huruvida vårdnaden skulle vara gemensam eller ensam för föräldrarnas gemensamma barn. Studien är kvalitativ och Norman Faircloughs diskursanalys används både som teori och metod tillsammans med socialkonstruktionism, med betoning på genus som social konstruktion. Resultatet i studien visar på två diskurser som tingsrätten motiverar sina beslut utifrån, där båda syftar till att argumentera eller göra trovärdigt vad som är för barnets bästa. I ”behovsdiskursen” betonas vikten av en god och nära relation till båda föräldrarna, emedan ”riskdiskursen” betonar risken för att barnet kan fara illa. Dessa två diskurser påverkar domstolens syn på föräldrarnas samarbete, vilket i sin tur påverkar tingsrättens beslut om gemensam respektive ensam vårdnad. Även på vilket sätt tingsrätten tar upp våldet och benämner våldet påverkas också utifrån vilken av de två diskurserna som råder. Inom behovsdiskursen bedömdes samarbetet som tillräckligt bra vid minsta möjliga tecken på att föräldrarna kunde enas i olika gemensamma beslut rörande barnet, vilket resulterade i gemensam vårdnad. Uppgifter om våld från pappan omformulerades eller omnämndes aldrig, vilket gjorde att våldet inom behovsdiskursen förminskades och fick en underordnad betydelse. Inom riskdiskursen bedömdes det svåra samarbetet mellan föräldrarna utgöra en risk för att barnet skulle fara illa, vilket gjorde att utfallet här blev ensam vårdnad. Inom riskdiskursen synliggjordes och problematiserades våldet i mycket högre grad. / The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge about how discourses compete for what is in the best interests of the child and how these govern the district court's decisions in custody disputes when there is information about the father's violence against the mother and any children. The empirical material was based on 14 judgments where there was information about the father's violence within the family. The district court's task was to judge whether custody should be joint or single for the parents' common children. The study is qualitative and Norman Fairclough's discourse analysis is used both as a theory and method together with social constructionism with emphasis on a gender perspective as an additional theory. The results of the study show two discourses from which the district court justifies its decisions, there both aim to argue or make credible what is in the best interests of the child. The “Discourse of needs” emphasizes the importance of a good and close relationship with both parents, while the “Discourse of risk” emphasizes the risk that the child may be harmed. The court's reasoning regarding the parents' cooperation is affected by which of the two discourses prevails. The way in which they address the violence and denominates it violence is also affected on the basis of the discourse on which the court is based. Violence tended to be deminished in both discourses, however, it became clear within the discourse of needs.

Many young persons live under difficult circumstances. Factors including HIV/AIDS pandemic, exacerbate the need to place young persons into alternative placements. The new and the unknown can be frightening but carrying a faithful transitional object establishes therapeutic bridge between the old and known and the new and unknown. This study sought to explore South African child and youth care workers' awareness of young persons' objects of significance in residential care settings. The rational was that with greater awareness, important objects may become a more useful option for the promotion of young persons' well-being. The research confirmed that South African child and youth care workers are aware of the existence and importance of significant objects. It further revealed that young persons possess different objects of significance to which workers need to pay careful attention. / Research Institute for Theology and Religion / M.Tech. (Child and Youth Care)

Many young persons live under difficult circumstances. Factors including HIV/AIDS pandemic, exacerbate the need to place young persons into alternative placements. The new and the unknown can be frightening but carrying a faithful transitional object establishes therapeutic bridge between the old and known and the new and unknown. This study sought to explore South African child and youth care workers' awareness of young persons' objects of significance in residential care settings. The rational was that with greater awareness, important objects may become a more useful option for the promotion of young persons' well-being. The research confirmed that South African child and youth care workers are aware of the existence and importance of significant objects. It further revealed that young persons possess different objects of significance to which workers need to pay careful attention. / Research Institute for Theology and Religion / M.Tech. (Child and Youth Care)