According to the U.N. convention of the rights of the child, as well as Swedish law, the best interests of the child is to be a primary consideration in all actions taken concerning children. This study explores the concept of the best interests of the child [barnets bästa] in the Swedish judiciary in cases of compulsory care [LVU]. The aim of this study was to explore how the courts construct the concept of “the best interest of the child”, how the child’s gender affected the construction of this concept and how the child’s right to express their view in court affected the outcome. This was achieved by analyzing 35 cases of compulsory care using document- and content analysis with a constructivist perspective and theories of discretionary action and gender theory. The conclusions drawn from this study was that child protection is the key value for courts deciding the best course of action for the best interests of the child and that the child’s view was taken into account. However, the child’s statement seems to be of greater influence when it concurs with the court’s opinion. We could also see that the gender of the child mattered more for what kind of case they appeared in rather than the court’s decision on the best interests of the child.

Den nya barnfridsbrottslagen avser att i högre grad inkludera barn som bevittnar våld av och mot närstående i brottmålsprocesser. Studiens syfte är att belysa hur dessa barn framställs i tingsrätternas barnfridsbrottsdomar samt hur de genom föreställningar om behov och kompetens blir delaktiga i avgörandena som skyddsobjekt och aktörer. Detta görs genom att presentera en kvalitativ textanalys om lagens första åtta månader i praktik. Avgörandena analyseras tematiskt utifrån tingsrättens framställning av barnets känslor, fysiska plats, kommunikationsmöjligheter, sociala relationer och externa faktorer. Resultatet visar att olika föreställningar kring kompetens och behov leder till att barnen själva framkommer men stundtals begränsas genom ett skydds-och/eller aktörsperspektiv. Studien kan bland annat belysa hur barn trots uttryckliga ambitioner i barnfridsbrottslagen ibland tycks framställas i en objektiv form samt att utgångspunkter, uppfattningar och åsikter interagerar med delaktigheten som utformas. Med individen i fokus utifrån den rättighetsimplementering som kriminaliseringen av barns bevittnande av våld innebär argumenteras det i denna studie för att gränser mellan barn som objekt och subjekt riskerar att suddas ut eller omförhandlas. Detta eftersom framställningen av barn ses interagera med föreställningar om vad barn är, vilket i förlängningen påverkar tingsrätternas utformning av barnet som objekt med begränsat subjektivt deltagande i avgörandena.

The purpose of this study was to investigate social workers professional experiences of social services statutory responsibilities to provide advice, support and other help to foster families. Furthermore, the purpose was to analyze what factors and conditions that affects social workers ability to provide adequate support. According to both inter-national and Swedish research foster parents are asking for more support. We became curious about how foster care secretaries in Sweden give support. To get this infor-mation we had three focusgroup interviews with a total of twelve social workers. Our three focusgroups were located in municipalities in southern Sweden. The interviews were transcribed and coded for our results. The theoretical perspective we used were Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory about the ecology of human development and the perspec-tive about risk- and protection factors. The study shows that they have quite few sup-port methods to offer the foster homes and the lack of resources (time, education and economy) and vague guidelines are two factors that affects the social workers ability to provide adequate support. Although social services becomes the deputy parent of the foster child and are one protection factor in the child's life, the social services does not receive much attention in forms of for example further education.