<p>The aim of this dissertation is to illustrate the manner in which assistance is distributed to the elderly according to the social services law in Sweden. It will focus on the processing officers/"street-level bureaucrats" who have been assigned, based on their profession, the task of assessing and deciding about the distributing of assistance. Central issues include the manner in which process officers go about their assignement and how their actual performance appears in comparision with the prescribed course of action. The dissertation´s starting pionts are in part, the legal regulations in the form of the social service law´s material and procedural rules, and in part the role as street-level bureaucrat and the construction of the client. The data which forms the basis for the conclusions of the dissertation consists of four studies conducted during the period 1995-2001. The first investigation - The Sundsvall study - is explorative and gives a first insight into how the process officers act and document the processing of a case. The process officers study is a national investigation with process officers from 27 municipalities. This second study focuses on the various ways to organise the handling process, and how these may influence the finding for assistance. The documentation study is also a national investigation of 29 municipalities. In this third study the written documentation of the case handling process is primarily exposed. Focus groups comprise the final sorce of data in which a group of processors in tree municipalities discuss their work. The process officers in the focus group describe several usual situations. With support from the various investigations, a picture appears which does not agree with prescribed course of action according to the legislation. What appears instead is a pattern of action which probably already existed before we began this work and which likely continues. This pattern of action has as we have established two faces, one of which constitutes an informal process where the actual construction of the "help-seeker" take place. Whitin the frame for this aspect, the so-called "service catalouge" has a decisive meaning, which in it´s own way is directed towards satisfying primarely physical and medical needs. The other "face" displays the formalised expresson of the informal process. This formal expression does not reveal all that is going on, only chosen elements. The action that we have found are institutionalized as an officially sanctioned institution since the practice is widely accepted and legitimized. The public intstitution is therefore built upon a pattern of action that consists both of formal rule, but primarily standards and routines which in many regards occur outside the formal rules. The consequences of a pattern of action that has been institutionalized and legitimized affects those seeking help who do not receive the individual assessment that they have a right to according to the law.</p>

The aim of this dissertation is to illustrate the manner in which assistance is distributed to the elderly according to the social services law in Sweden. It will focus on the processing officers/"street-level bureaucrats" who have been assigned, based on their profession, the task of assessing and deciding about the distributing of assistance. Central issues include the manner in which process officers go about their assignement and how their actual performance appears in comparision with the prescribed course of action. The dissertation´s starting pionts are in part, the legal regulations in the form of the social service law´s material and procedural rules, and in part the role as street-level bureaucrat and the construction of the client. The data which forms the basis for the conclusions of the dissertation consists of four studies conducted during the period 1995-2001. The first investigation - The Sundsvall study - is explorative and gives a first insight into how the process officers act and document the processing of a case. The process officers study is a national investigation with process officers from 27 municipalities. This second study focuses on the various ways to organise the handling process, and how these may influence the finding for assistance. The documentation study is also a national investigation of 29 municipalities. In this third study the written documentation of the case handling process is primarily exposed. Focus groups comprise the final sorce of data in which a group of processors in tree municipalities discuss their work. The process officers in the focus group describe several usual situations. With support from the various investigations, a picture appears which does not agree with prescribed course of action according to the legislation. What appears instead is a pattern of action which probably already existed before we began this work and which likely continues. This pattern of action has as we have established two faces, one of which constitutes an informal process where the actual construction of the "help-seeker" take place. Whitin the frame for this aspect, the so-called "service catalouge" has a decisive meaning, which in it´s own way is directed towards satisfying primarely physical and medical needs. The other "face" displays the formalised expresson of the informal process. This formal expression does not reveal all that is going on, only chosen elements. The action that we have found are institutionalized as an officially sanctioned institution since the practice is widely accepted and legitimized. The public intstitution is therefore built upon a pattern of action that consists both of formal rule, but primarily standards and routines which in many regards occur outside the formal rules. The consequences of a pattern of action that has been institutionalized and legitimized affects those seeking help who do not receive the individual assessment that they have a right to according to the law.

The thesis had its starting point in the first paragraph of the eleventh chapter in the Swedish social services act, which discusses the immediate risk assessments that has to be made when the social services receive a report about a child. The thesis highlights an area that has received a lot of attention in media since the spring of 2014, when an eight year old girl was fatally abused by her legal guardians. The social services had at the time received a report about the girl but it was left unread. This tragic case has brought attention to the routines used by the social services for dealing with reports and risk assessments. This thesis was conducted through individual interviews with social workers working with children and families in the social services, with the aim to acquire an enhanced understanding of how social workers perform immediate risk assessments and what these assessments are based on. The results of the study showed that several of the municipalities had a routine for how to handle incoming reports, but lacked specific routines regarding the immediate risk assessments. Without specific routines, the informants stated experience, intuition and cooperation with co-workers and managers as important factors of making risk assessments. / Studien tog avstamp i socialtjänstlagens elfte kapitel, första paragrafen, vilken behandlar den omedelbara skyddsbedömning som ska göras av socialtjänsten vid en inkommen anmälan gällande ett barn. Studien belyser ett medialt uppmärksammat område som sedan våren 2014 blivit vida diskuterat då en åttaårig flicka misshandlades till döds av sina vårdnadshavare. Socialtjänsten hade då fått in en anmälan om flickan men som ingen ännu hade läst. Detta tragiska fall har uppmärksammat socialtjänstens rutiner kring anmälningar och hur de genomför skyddsbedömningar. Studien genomfördes genom individuella intervjuer med socialsekreterare som arbetar inom Barn och familj i socialtjänsten och syftet med studien var att få en ökad förståelse för hur socialsekreterarna utför skyddsbedömningar och vad som ligger till grund för dessa bedömningar. Studiens resultat visade att det i flera av kommunerna fanns en rutin för hur en inkommen anmälan skulle hanteras, men att det saknades specifika riktlinjer för hur de omedelbara skyddsbedömningarna skulle göras. I avsaknad av specifika riktlinjer uppgav informanterna att erfarenhet, intuition och samarbete med kollegor och chefer utgjorde viktiga delar av att göra skyddsbedömningar.

Socialtjänstlagen (2001:453) är en ramlag i vilken socialsekreterare med ett särskilt handlingsutrymme fattar beslut. I uppsatsen undersöks, genom vinjettmetoden, hur nio socialsekreterare i tre kommuner fattar beslut som rör barn. Socialsekreterarna arbetar med försörjningsstöd. Syftet med uppsatsen är att belysa beslutsmotiveringar. I beslutsmotiveringarna undersöks särskilt hur barnperspektivet beaktas.I uppsatsen har Lipskys teori genom "Street Level Bureaucracy – Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services" använts.Resultatet av uppsatsen är bl a att beslut varierar beroende på var klienten bor samt vilken socialsekreterare denne tilldelas. / Social Services Act (2001:453) is a framework in which social welfare secretaries within certain discretion make decisions. The essay examines, using the vignette method, how nine social workers in the three municipalities make decisions affecting children. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the reasons for their decisions concerning children. It is in particular examined how the child's perspective is taken into account in decisions. Lipsky’s “Street Level Bureaucracy – Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services” is used as the main theory in this study. The result of this study is that decisions differ depending on where the client lives and what social workers he is assigned.

To categorize groups of people is a necessity in our society. Categorization of people is used by decision makers and authorities. In the national social service legislation, categorization can be used to instruct municipalities to prioritize vulnerable groups of clients in need of support and services. The negative aspect of categorizing is that people are being labeled in a certain way, which can affect how people are being treated. The current Social Services Act in Sweden contains specific regulations to certain groups in society. One of the proposals in the extensive investigation for a new Social Services Act is to tone down these certain groups. The investigation for a new Social Services Act was sent out for consultation to 193 relevant community actors, including municipalities, government authorities and interest groups. These are given the opportunity to submit opinions and comments before the legislation is amended. This study is based on the received responses from the community actors through a qualitative text analysis. 55 of the received 157 responses addressed categorization of the target groups in the legislation. The results show that the majority of the 55 responses are in favour of target groups being toned down. In the responses there are arguments that highlight an increased individual perspective and a holistic view in social work. Other actors highlight risks with toning down the target groups, such as an increased difficulty for individuals to claim their rights and that it increases the risk of inequality. The results also show that there is a difference in the responses depending on whether the respondent is a municipality, a government authority or an interest group. The municipalities are in favour of the target groups being toned down while we find government authorities and interest groups on both sides of the argument. It also shows how different organizations take their interests into account in a consultation procedure.