Previous research has indicated that intellectual disabilities and parenting is not socially accepted and compulsory care of children often occurs in families where one or both parents have an intellectual disability. This study aims to, thru a document analysis, investigate ideas and representations of parents with intellectual disabilities that emerge in Swedish legal cases. The legal cases is about children who are taken care of according to LVU § 2, where one or both parents have a intellectual disability. The results of the study revealed that people with intellectual disabilities are seen as not capable of developing parenting ability, in some cases aroused concerns about parenting during pregnancy, these suggesting stereotypes of parents with intellectual disabilities. Of the documents reveals that social workers word overrides in the decision-making, this leads to a position of power where the parents are at a disadvantage.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how a child's rights of speech are taken into account in child welfare investigations. A child's speech or words are not always taken seriously or as important as it should be in the child’s context. This problem has been a major topic of concern both at the national and the international level. Children want their speech of rights to be respected. It is their fundamental right that every human must guarantee to protect these rights to make a better world for future generations. Therefore in order to deeply examine the research topic, the authors used different theoretical approaches like power theory, communication theory and freedom of action. Furthermore the authors gathered more information using semi structure interviews with social workers who work with child welfare investigations. From the interview discussions, the researchers looked for recurrent themes and came with some findings that children are able to express their opinions in child welfare investigations. Children’s visibility and participation in child welfare investigations have improved since BBIC (the child’s needs at the center) has been involved in child welfare investigations. Children´s words or opinions were also ignored. More so, the actual level of how a child´s contribution directly influenced the decision making process was very unclear. The study further shows that social workers are using various communication methods and techniques to adress children's wishes and opinions to provide the best acceptable services. A well-established feedback session is made available in order to gather the children’s opinions and improve on the services.

Socialtjänsten är en verksamhet som i studier framträder som särskilt problematisk vad gäller den psykosociala arbetsmiljön, arbetsrelaterad ohälsa och personalomsättning. Mot bakgrund av socialtjänstens verksamhetsstyrning, vilken är omfattande och komplex, ställs frågan hur kommunen ser på möjligheterna att verka för en god psykosocial arbetsmiljö. I denna fallstudie har 12 nyckelaktörer med någon form av personalansvar gentemot socialsekreterarna från en och samma socialförvaltning intervjuats. Intervjuerna analyserades genom innehållsanalys med latent fokus. Resultaten visar att den bild som framträtt i forskning kring socialsekreterarnas arbetsvillkor inte nått full legitimitet på organisatorisk nivå. Resultaten visar även att det arbete som bedrivs för att stärka den psykosociala arbetsmiljön sker genom primära interventioner vars fokus riktar sig mot organisationen samt interaktionen mellan individ och organisation. Vidare antyder resultaten att kunskapen gällande verksamhetsstyrningens relation till psykosocial arbetsmiljö är i behov av utveckling. Studien tyder på att det behövs mer forskning kring sambandet mellan socialtjänstens verksamhetsstyrning och socialsekreterarnas psykosociala arbetsmiljö liksom att dialogförhållandet mellan kommuner och den statliga överbyggnaden behöver undersökas närmare. / The social services is an area that studies suggest are notably problematic when exploring the psychosocial work environment, work-related illnesses and employee turnover. In light of the complex and comprehensive operational strategy of the social services questions might be raised over the ability of municipalities to achieve a suitable, and functional, psychosocial work environment. In producing this paper, twelve key employees have been interviewed from the same social service centre. The methodology for analysis of interviews has been through ‘content analysis’ with a latent focus. There are several conclusions to be drawn. Results show that the recommendations from previous studies on improving the working conditions of social service workers have, to date, not been given their full legitimacy on an organisational level. Corrective interventions have primarily been directed both towards the organisation and the interaction between the organisation and the individual. Analysis also indicates that the understanding of the relationship between the operational strategy and the psychosocial work environment still needs to be developed. Finally, this paper shows that further research on the relationship between the operational strategy in the social services and the psychosocial work environment is still required, including research on the dialogue between the municipalities and the governmental superstructure. / <p>Uppsatsen har under AFA Försäkrings FoU-dag i Stockholm 10 november 2015 tilldelats AFA Försäkrings och Prevents stipendium “Utmärkt arbetsmiljöuppsats”. Se länken nedan för mer information:</p><p>https://www.afaforsakring.se/nyhetsrum/pressmeddelanden/2015/11/student-vid-malardalens-hogskola-tilldelas-stipendium-for-uppsats-om-socialsekreterares-arbetsmiljo/</p><p></p>

Syftet med denna uppsats var att, utifrån yrkesverksammas perspektiv, undersöka socialtjänstens arbete med mödrar med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning i ett nyblivet föräldraskap, samt hur de yrkesverksamma uppfattar detta arbete. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en kvalitativ metod använts. Fem enskilda intervjuer har genomförts med yrkesverksamma inom socialtjänsten i tre olika kommuner i Mellansverige. Resultatet ifrån intervjuerna tolkades och analyserades med hjälp av de två teoretiska perspektiven normalitetsdiskursen och den goda viljans diskurs. Uppsatsens teoretiska ansats kan beskrivas som socialkonstruktionism. Det framkom två övergripande former för socialtjänstens stöd till mödrar med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning: stöd i hemmet och stöd utanför hemmet. Stödet som erbjöds mödrarna skiljde sig inte från det stöd som fanns att tillgå för alla föräldrar som behövde stöd i ett föräldraskap. De yrkesverksamma upplevde att mödrarnas brist på insikt och deras rädsla för socialtjänsten medförde svårigheter i arbetet. Arbetet upplevdes även svårt utifrån en brist på kunskap och adekvata metoder för arbetet med mödrar med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Resultatet visade att de yrkesverksamma uppfattade mödrar med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning som avvikande från ett normalt föräldraskap. Det framkom skilda uppfattningar om mödrarnas kapacitet att utveckla ett tillräckligt bra föräldraskap. Stödet som erbjöds mödrarna präglades mer eller mindre av ett kontrollerande syfte. / The purpose of this study was to, based on the social workers perspective, examine social services’ work with mothers with intellectual disability in an early parenthood, and how the social workers perceive this work. To achieve the purpose of this study, we used a qualitative method. We performed individual interviews with five social workers who worked in social service in three different municipalities. The results from the interviews were analyzed by means of the two theoretical perspectives the discourse of normality and the discourse of the good will. The theoretical approach of this study can be described as social constructionism. It appeared two general forms of social services’ support to mothers with intellectual disability: support at home and support outside the home. The support offered to the mothers did not differ from the support that was available to all parents who needed support for parenthood. The social workers felt that the mothers' lack of understanding and their fear of social services caused difficulties at work. The work also experienced difficult from a lack of knowledge and adequate methods for working with mothers with intellectual disability. The results showed that the social workers perceived mothers with intellectual disability as deviant from normal parenting. Differences emerged on the mothers' capacity to develop a good enough parenting. The support offered to mothers was characterized more or less of a controlling purpose.

Syftet med den här studien var att genom ett kvalitativt perspektiv få en djupare förståelse om bakgrunden till hög personalomsättning inom socialtjänstens barn- och ungdomsvård samt vad som skulle kunna motverka detta. Undersökningen har genomförts med ett kvalitativt tillvägagångsätt i form av sex halvstrukturerade intervjuer med personer som valt att säga upp sig som socialsekreterare inom socialtjänstens barn- och ungdomsvård. Studien visar återkommande beskrivningar kring en ohållbar arbetssituation utom räddning med låg lön, dåliga arbetsförhållanden med tidsbrist och för lite feedback, brist på engagemang från kollegor, avsaknad av tilltro till arbetsledningen samt utbrändhet. De tidigare socialsekreterarna hade behövt bland annat mer personal, bättre kommunikation med arbetsledningen, en teamledare och mer handledning för att stanna kvar i sin anställning. Våra huvudslutsatser är att det finns en stor komplexitet i bakgrunden till den höga personalomsättningen inom socialtjänstens barn- och ungdomsvård och att ett helhetsperspektiv är av största vikt för att kunna motverka detta. / The aim of this study was to get a deeper understanding through a qualitative perspective about the background to high employee turnover in the unit of child and youth care within social services and also how this could be counteracted. Six semi-structured interviews with people who have chosen to resign from child and youth care within social services were conducted. The results show repetitive descriptions of unsustainable working conditions characterized by low wages, lack of time, lack of feedback and commitment from colleagues, absence of trust to the supervision and burnout. The previous social workers described that they would have needed more colleagues, better communication with the supervisor, a team leader, more tutoring and higher wages to stay in their jobs. Our main conclusions are that there is a big complexity in the background to employee turnover and we consider that a holistic perspective is essential to be able to beat this.

In the recent years, the number of nonprofit organizations in the Austin area has proliferated. At the same time, the state economic budget crisis has reduced public and private resources available to social service providers. In addition, potential clients face many barriers to accessing the services being provided. Research suggests that service coordination and collaboration between service providers may be one way to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the nonprofit sector and improve outcomes for clients. The four objectives of this report are: 1) to present an overview of issues facing the Austin social services field as a whole, 2) to conduct an exploratory scan of existing Austin networks including their goals, organizational histories, and challenges that they face in their collaborative efforts, 3) to synthesize findings from a variety of publications in a thorough discussion of the challenges and best practices for forming effective inter-organizational working groups, and 4) to identify what Austin networks can learn from the literature and derive recommendations for enhancing coordinated efforts between social service providers in the city of Austin. / text

The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of how social workers in their work with vulnerable children are related to the work situation and how the work situations affect client work. To conduct the study a qualitative method was used. In total five professional social workers who works with vulnerable children was interviewed. The analyze method in this study was content analysis. The theoretical perspective in this study is human service organizations and the demand and control model. The result in this study shows that it is high strain work situations that have an impact on client work. Social workers are heavily loaded in their work, there are gaps in support from managers and its hard keep experience staff and recruiting new staff with sufficient experience. The result shows lack of resources which leads to at risk that it is not enough staff to take care of serious notifications. The results shows that social workers work situation leads to difficulty in performing work of a high quality and those children are at risk of suffering during the waiting period. / Uppsatsens syfte var att öka förståelsen kring hur socialsekreterare i arbetet med barn och unga förhåller sig till arbetssituationen och hur de anser att den påverkar klientarbetet. I studien användes en kvalitativ metod och sammanlagt genomfördes fem intervjuer med yrkesverksamma socialsekreterare inom socialtjänstens område barn och unga. Innehållsanalys användes som analysmetod. De teoretiska perspektiven i studien är människobehandlande organisationer och krav- och kontrollmodellen. Studiens huvudresultat visar att arbetssituationen har en påverkan på klientarbetet på grund av att det är en påfrestande arbetssituation. Socialsekreterarna är tungt belastade, det finns brister i stöd från chefer samt att det finns svårigheter att behålla erfaren personal och rekrytera ny personal med tillräcklig kompetens. Resultatet visar avsaknad av resurser där det finns en risk att det inte finns tillräckligt med personal för att kunna hantera allvarliga anmälningar. Resultatet visar att socialsekreterarnas arbetssituation leder till svårigheter att utföra arbetet med en hög kvalitet och barn riskerar att fara illa under väntetiden.

Studien syftar till att belysa hur omvårdnadspersonal och enhetschefer på tre korttidsboenden arbetar med frågor som rör självbestämmande, meningsfullhet, trygghet, integritet, välbefinnande, värdigt liv samt hur de arbetar med att utveckla individernas egna resurser. Dessa begrepp anges i socialtjänstlagens verksamhetsmål och värdegrund i 5 kap. 4§ och 1 kap. 1§ (SFS 2001:453). För att besvara studiens syfte intervjuades tre enhetschefer och ett frågeformulär användes för att inhämta omvårdnadspersonalens perspektiv på implementeringen av verksamhetsmålen och värdegrunden. Empirin analyserades utifrån Self-determination theory och begreppet institutionalisering. Resultatet visar att enhetschefernas främsta metod för implementering av värdegrunden är att diskutera denna med omvårdnadspersonalen på arbetsplatsen. En stor andel av personalen känner dock inte till värdegrundens innehåll. De boendes möjligheter att utöva självbestämmande är begränsade och deras behov av integritet inskränks vid överbeläggningar då de får dela rum och toalettutrymme. Personer med demenssjukdom och de som vistas på korttidsboendet för växelvård blir exkluderade och har minskade möjligheter att få sina behov tillgodosedda. / The study aims to illustrate how caregivers and care managers on three short-term accommodations implement values concerning self-determination, meaningfulness, safeness, integrity, well-being, dignity and how they work to develop the individual's own resources. These values are stated in the Social Services Act in the objectives in section 1 §1, and in section 5 §4 (SFS 2001:453). To answer the aim of the study three care managers were interviewed and a questionnaire were used to obtain the caregivers perspective on the short-term accommodations. The empirical data were analyzed on the basis of Self-determination theory and institutionalization. Result shows that the care managers main method of implementation of the basic values are to discuss it with the caregivers in the workplace. A large proportion of the staff however, do not know the content of the basic values. The residents’ ability to exercise self-determination are limited and their integrity is curtailed when overcrowding when they share a room and lavatories. People with dementia and those who dwelt in the short-term accommodation for respite are being excluded thus, they have less opportunity to get their needs met.

This study sought to explain how crime victims emerged as a target group in the Swedish Social Services Act in 2001. The findings, derived from legislative documents, a literature review, and focus group interviews with social workers, showed that the 2001 provisions both duplicated and undermined pre-existing provisions of the Social Services Act. The explicit aim of the reform was to improve services to crime victims. The provisions did not, however, change the legal responsibility of the social services, nor did they strengthen the social rights of crime victims. The social services already assumed responsibility for crime victims according to other provisions of the act. To some degree, the reform can be explained symbolically. Support for crime victims was a complicated issue for the social democratic government. The economic crisis of the early 1990s ruled out reforms that might bring high increased costs. Yet expanding crime victims’ rights at the expense of the offender (e.g. toughening penal law and promoting victim impact statements) was not in line with social democratic ideology. By enacting the 2001 provisions, the government showed its commitment to providing support to crime victims. At the same time, the provisions did not increase costs or strengthen crime victims’ rights. In this way, the provisions solved a political dilemma for the government. Incorporating the 2001 provisions in the Social Services Act may seem to have been a modest reform. Symbolic politics, however, are not empty; rather, they reflect attitudes and beliefs. This study proposed that the reform revealed the state’s increasing concern with violence against women and individual responsibility. Furthermore, the provisions may have constituted a normative reorientation of the Social Services Act, in which individual responsibility increasingly replaced solidarity, the holistic view, and a right to assistance according to need.

The purpose of the investigation is to evaluate the level of the quality of social services for the elderly people. The thesis comprises the following parts: introduction, four chapters, conclusions, recommendations and annexes. The determination of social needs, concept of social services and their classification are analyzed in the first chapter, as well as the legal acts which regulate the provision of social services. The second chapter presents the analysis of a concept of elderly person, its participation in the public activities, as well as the ethical principles of the social work. The concept of the quality of social services and its evaluation is explained in the third chapter. The fourth chapter contains the analysis of the investigation on the quality of social services for elderly people. The following methods for investigation were used: the analysis of literature and legal acts, enquiry method, analysis of statistical data.