The aim of this study was to examine how staff at homes for care or residence (HVB-homes) work towards helping unaccompanied children to become self-sufficient. The study is based on a qualitative approach and we have done eight semi-structured interviews with staff from different HVB-homes. The study shows how staff in different HVB-homes uses different strategies to create opportunities for the children to integrate into Swedish society as well as the conditions that are necessary for the children to cope on their own. Our results have shown that routines help the unaccompanied children to manage their time efficiently and maintain a functional life with school, health and extra-curricular activities. By executing different tasks on their own such as cooking or doing their own laundry, the children learn to manage on their own. Staff shows the unaccompanied children how Swedish society works as well as the values and norms that exist to aid them in getting accustomed to their new environment. The staff motivates the children to go to school in order for them to acknowledge the beneficial aspects of education and to help develop their language. Trust, security and healthy relations have shown to be a prerequisite to maintain a functional relationship between the unaccompanied children and staff at the HVB-homes. Creating a network for the children by having them join different associations and extra-curricular activities such as soccer has also come to help the children integrate into Swedish society.

Author: Hanna Wennerhov Title: The construction of “unaccompanied children” in regional media – a discourse analysis of representation, in the light of the “refugee crisis” 2015 [Translated title] Supervisor: Barzoo Eliassi Assessor: Ulf Drugge The purpose of this study was to problematize how unaccompanied children were depicted in news articles in regional media, in the light of the so called “refugee crisis” of 2015. 18 news articles concerning unaccompanied children have been analysed from a social constructive perspective, using discourse theory, the concept of representation and Michel Foucault’s perspective on power. Through this analysis, I have been able to identify two main discourses, where unaccompanied children were represented mostly by individuals in power position. The category was thus represented in two diverse ways, on the one hand as exposed and in need of help and protection, on the other hand as encumbering to the society. They were at the same time depicted as a homogenous group, passive in relation to the surrounding society. I have further been able to illustrate how unaccompanied children were being excluded from the discourses, through their limited participation and opportunity to represent themselves through the articles. When given this opportunity in one of the articles, four young people categorised as “unaccompanied children” represented the category as active, responsible individuals, thus presenting an alternative portrayal of unaccompanied children. With this study, I aimed to gain a deeper understanding of what kind of portrayals of unaccompanied children that may have become a premise from which people think of and treat these young people. I also aimed to raise awareness of how the power of medias portrayal of diverse groups of people can affect the conception of individuals that are categorised into these groups, as well as those individuals’ conception of themselves.   Keywords: Unaccompanied children, construction, representation, media, discourse analysis Nyckelord: Ensamkommande barn, konstruktion, representation, media, diskursanalys

<p><strong><em>Sammanfattning</em></strong><strong></strong></p><p>De ensamkommande barnen som kommer till Sverige befinner sig i en utsatt situation. Efter den förste juli 2006 lades ansvaret för barnens boende och omvårdnad på kommunerna efter överenskommelse med migrationsverket. De ensamkommande barnen blir tilldelade en god man, som får ansvaret för barnen i föräldrarnas frånvaro. En av de gode männens uppgift är att företräda barnet i asylprocessen.</p><p>Tidigare forskning som belyser hur mottagningen i en kommun kan se ut, eller hur de vuxna som arbetar med barnen upplever sin situation var svårt att finna. Idag finns främst rapporter från ideella organisationer som exempelvis Rädda Barnen.</p><p>Under hösten 2008 gjordes intervjuer med ansvarig tjänsteman på kommun X, boende personal på ett PUT- boende för ensamkommande barn, samt gode män. Detta för att få en förståelse för hur barnens situation kan se ut i en kommun och hur ansvaret är fördelat mellan berörda parter. Utifrån intervjuerna visade det sig att det saknades klara direktiv och regler mellan de olika instanserna, vilket kan leda till en ostrukturerad tillvaro för de ensamkommande barnen. Vidare framkom att inga formella krav fanns för att bli god man, inte heller någon specifik utbildning innan de går in som vårdnadshavare för de ensamkommande barnen. Detta placerar barnen i ännu en utsatt situation, då de gode männen har tilldelats ansvaret att beakta barnens rättigheter, ekonomi, samt juridiska aspekter. </p><p>Nyckelord: ensamkommande barn, kommunens ansvar, god man, asylprocess</p><p><strong><p> </p></strong></p> / <p><strong><em>Abstract </em></strong></p><p>The unaccompanied children who come to Sweden are in an exposed position. After the first of July 2006 the responsibility for the children's housing and caring lays on the local authority after agreement with immigration authorities. The unaccompanied child gets an allocated good man, which gets the responsibility for the children in the parents' absence. One of the good men's responsibilities is to represent the child in the asylum process.</p><p>Earlier research that elucidates how the reception can looks like in a local authority where difficult to find. How the adult who works with these children experience their situation, where also difficult to find. Today, there are principally reports from non-profit organizations, for example: "save the children" in Sweden.</p><p>During the autumn 2008 interviews were done with a responsible official in local authority X, housing personnel on PUT- living for unaccompanied children, and good men. To be able to get an understanding for how the children's situation can look like in a local authority and how the responsibility is distributed between concerned parties. On the basis of the interviews, it showed clear directives and rules were missing between the different authorities, which can lead to an unstructured life for the unaccompanied children. Furthermore, no formal requirements or other specific education is necessary in order to become a good man and there by make a commitment to get custody for the unaccompanied children. This puts the children in another exposed situation, since the good men have been allocated the responsibility to pay attention to the children's rights, economy, and legal aspects.</p><p>Keywords: unaccompanied children, the local authority, good man, asylum process</p><p> </p>

Sammanfattning De ensamkommande barnen som kommer till Sverige befinner sig i en utsatt situation. Efter den förste juli 2006 lades ansvaret för barnens boende och omvårdnad på kommunerna efter överenskommelse med migrationsverket. De ensamkommande barnen blir tilldelade en god man, som får ansvaret för barnen i föräldrarnas frånvaro. En av de gode männens uppgift är att företräda barnet i asylprocessen. Tidigare forskning som belyser hur mottagningen i en kommun kan se ut, eller hur de vuxna som arbetar med barnen upplever sin situation var svårt att finna. Idag finns främst rapporter från ideella organisationer som exempelvis Rädda Barnen. Under hösten 2008 gjordes intervjuer med ansvarig tjänsteman på kommun X, boende personal på ett PUT- boende för ensamkommande barn, samt gode män. Detta för att få en förståelse för hur barnens situation kan se ut i en kommun och hur ansvaret är fördelat mellan berörda parter. Utifrån intervjuerna visade det sig att det saknades klara direktiv och regler mellan de olika instanserna, vilket kan leda till en ostrukturerad tillvaro för de ensamkommande barnen. Vidare framkom att inga formella krav fanns för att bli god man, inte heller någon specifik utbildning innan de går in som vårdnadshavare för de ensamkommande barnen. Detta placerar barnen i ännu en utsatt situation, då de gode männen har tilldelats ansvaret att beakta barnens rättigheter, ekonomi, samt juridiska aspekter.  Nyckelord: ensamkommande barn, kommunens ansvar, god man, asylprocess / Abstract The unaccompanied children who come to Sweden are in an exposed position. After the first of July 2006 the responsibility for the children's housing and caring lays on the local authority after agreement with immigration authorities. The unaccompanied child gets an allocated good man, which gets the responsibility for the children in the parents' absence. One of the good men's responsibilities is to represent the child in the asylum process. Earlier research that elucidates how the reception can looks like in a local authority where difficult to find. How the adult who works with these children experience their situation, where also difficult to find. Today, there are principally reports from non-profit organizations, for example: "save the children" in Sweden. During the autumn 2008 interviews were done with a responsible official in local authority X, housing personnel on PUT- living for unaccompanied children, and good men. To be able to get an understanding for how the children's situation can look like in a local authority and how the responsibility is distributed between concerned parties. On the basis of the interviews, it showed clear directives and rules were missing between the different authorities, which can lead to an unstructured life for the unaccompanied children. Furthermore, no formal requirements or other specific education is necessary in order to become a good man and there by make a commitment to get custody for the unaccompanied children. This puts the children in another exposed situation, since the good men have been allocated the responsibility to pay attention to the children's rights, economy, and legal aspects. Keywords: unaccompanied children, the local authority, good man, asylum process

I minori stranieri non accompagnati sono considerati i nuovi protagonisti dei processi migratori e costituiscono a partire da questo secolo un vero e proprio soggetto migratorio. Il seguente lavoro presenta un quadro generale di riferimento giuridico-normativo per mettere a fuoco la questione dei minori stranieri non accompagnati sia in Italia che in Europa e nello specifico in Spagna, Francia, Inghilterra. Inoltre, vengono prese in considerazione le tematiche educative di questi minori presenti in Italia. La letteratura presa in esame insegna che i minori stranieri non accompagnati presentano molti bisogni educativi associati all’esperienza della migrazione, all’età adolescenziale e al fatto di trovarsi in Italia, da soli, senza adulti legalmente responsabili per loro. Si sottolinea, dunque, il necessario intervento educativo che l’educatore è chiamato a svolgere attraverso un’azione di sostegno e accompagnamento competente. In questo lavoro si presenta infine, attraverso una ricerca esplorativa, le rappresentazioni che gli educatori intervistati dell’associazione Gruppo Abele, della cooperativa Esserci e dell’Oratorio S. Luigi di Torino e della cooperativa CSAPSA di Bologna, hanno rispetto all’educativa di strada, come intervento pedagogico volto ad aiutare i minori stranieri non accompagnati in processi di integrazione e socializzazione. / The unaccompanied children are the new protagonists of migratory processes and since this century, they are a new and real migratory subject. This work presents a normative and juridical reference frame in order to show the question of unaccompanied children both in Italy and in Europe, and especially in Spain, France and UK. In addition it considers educational topics of these minors in Italy. The considered literature underlines many educational needs of unaccompanied children, which are related to migration experience, to adolescence, to be in Italy alone without legally responsible adults. The thesis wants to underline the necessary pedagogical intervention that is educator is called to develop through an action of qualified accompaniment and support.. The last part of present work is an explorative research which describes the educators’ representations about informal education in street, that is a pedagogical intervention due to help unaccompanied children towards integration and socialization processes. The interviewees are from Gruppo Abele Association, social cooperative Esserci, parish recreation Centre S.Luigi in Turin and from cooperative CSAPSA in Bologna.

The focus of this study has been to plumb social workers experiences regarding their work methods in two institutions regarding unaccompanied children through a perspective of gender. In this study, four semi-structured qualitative interviews has been contrived in purpose to gather in material which has been presented in five themes to ease an analyse focusing of gender. In all the interviews both authors participated with one in charge and one taking notes. One of the main focuses has been the relations between both social workers and their clients and between colleges in the institutions. The other main focus has been the activities, both planed and spontaneous, which the clients been offered, for example football, bowling and boxing. The idea of analyse this main focuses is based in our knowledge through recent science studies that shows that gender is created both in relations, language and everyday actions.

Every year a great amount of unaccompanied children flee their homelands without their parents or guardians. This means a journey filled with danger and difficulties. The difficulties don’t only exist during the road ahead but also when the children arrive to the new country. Even if Sweden’s work in receiving refugees is one of the best in the world, it still exist problems. The support work with unaccompanied children is done on different levels in society. The work performed nearest to the individuals takes place at the asylum- permanent residence accommodation where the youth are placed after the decision if they can stay in the country or not. We will in this essay illustrate how the support work with unaccompanied children in the age 13-18 looks like and what effect social support has on the adolescent’s identity development. By visiting two agencies that have asylum- permanent residence accommodation we carried out four interviews with professionals who work on a daily base with the young people. Based on the informant’s narratives and interpretations of the young people’s experiences, we seek to gain knowledge of their situation, both physically and psychologically. We investigated the circumstances behind the feeling of security, how reliance is formed and how social support can help the children’s sense of coherence. We use both crises theory, identity theory and the theory of SOC (sense of coherence) to analyze the informants´ stories. The results of this study show that social support is highly important for a child’s identity development. It is the professional who work on a daily base closely to the children who often symbolize the essence of social support. It’s through their work a safe environment is established and upheld. Identity is shaped through social relationships within groups where solidarity and a mutual confidence exist. We have also acknowledged some deficiencies in the structure of the support work, for example regarding which premises are the young individuals expected to adapt to the Swedish society. The adaption and adjustment has become an obligation for the young individuals rather than for the society.

Bakgrund: Konstruktioner av ensamkommande barn har undersökts till viss del. Föreställningar om barnen i bland annat medier och policydokument har studerats. Hur barnen konstrueras inom en "vardagskontext", i form av ett öppet diskussionsforum online (Flashback Forum), och hur konstruktioner däri görs trovärdiga, bedöms eftersatt. Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande studie var att identifiera olika inom Flashback Forum förekommande diskurser kring ensamkommande barn, med avseende på deras retoriska organisering. Med diskurs avsågs ett sätt att tala om och förstå världen som konstruerar ett objekt eller företeelse på ett särskilt sätt. Metod: För att besvara syftet användes en diskurspsykologisk ansats vilken fokuserar på hur trovärdighet och sanning skapas i kommunikation. Utifrån en teoretisk modell, innefattande de fyra retoriska teknikerna category entitlement, empirisk repertoar, konsensus och extremfallsformuleringar, undersöktes hur skribenter på forumet skapade sanning och bemötte andras föreställningar om barnen. Resultat: Resultatet visade att ensamkommande barn omges av diskurserna de vuxna, barnen, våldtäktsmännen, de särbehandlade, de sexuellt utsatta samt diskursen om de biologiskt manliga könet. Diskurserna användes parallellt i talen och underbyggde argumenteringar på forumet. Skribenterna använde de studerade retoriska teknikerna för att skapa trovärdighet i uttalanden. Med särskilda uttrycksformer skapades fakta om ensamkommande barn. / Background: Constructions of unaccompanied children have been researched to some extent. Concepts of the children have been studied in media and policy documents amongst others. How the children are constructed within an "everyday context", in form of an open online discussion forum (Flashback Forum), and how the constructions become credible, are regarded as under-researched. Aim: The aim of the present study was to identify different discourses concerning unaccompanied children on the Flashback Forum, with regard to their rhetorical organization. Discourse is meant as a way to talk about and understand the world that constructs an object or phenomenon in a particular way. Method: To answer the aim, a discursive psychological approach was used, which focuses on how credibility and truth are created in communication. Based on a theoretical model, including the four rhetorical techniques category entitlement, empirical repertoire, consensus and extreme case formulations, it was examined how the writers at the forum created truth and responded to others' beliefs about the children. Result: The results showed that unaccompanied children are surrounded by the discourses: the adults, the children, the rapists, the special treated, the sexually vulnerable and the discourse of the biologically male sex. Discourses were used in parallel in the speeches and to back up arguments at the forum. The writers used the studied rhetorical techniques to build credibility in the statements. With specific expression, facts about unaccompanied children were created.

The purpose of this study was to examine how some social workers in Sweden describe the social work with unaccompanied children. Emphasis was on the role of culture in social work with the unaccompanied children. I wanted to examine how the social workers describe their view on social work with unaccompanied. I also wanted to examine how the social workers describe their view at their own and the unaccompanied children’s cultural backgrounds influence on the social work with the unaccompanied. The study is based on qualitative interviews with four social workers. The empirical material was analysed based on the theories ethnocentrism and symbolic interactionism. The results of the study shows that both the social workers and the unaccompanied children’s cultural background effects social work. The social workers cultural background has a particular effect on the meetings with the unaccompanied children. The social workers capacity to fully understand the unaccompanied clients is limited for cultural factors.

Sedan 2004 har en stor ökning skett av ensamkommande barn i Sverige och år 2014 kom över 7000 barn hit. Ett ensamkommande barn är ett barn som kommer utan sina föräldrar eller någon som företräder föräldrarna. Det vanligaste hälsoproblemet hos ensamkommande barn är psykisk ohälsa, på grund av bland annat traumatiska upplevelser i deras liv. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva vad omgivande aktörer har för uppfattning om ensamkommande barns förutsättningar för god hälsa. Undersökningarna för studien har gjorts med hjälp av åtta kvalitativa enskilda intervjuer. Intervjupersonerna var människor som på något sätt har kontinuerlig kontakt med ensamkommande barn i en mindre kommun i Mellansverige. Intervjuerna analyserades i en manifest innehållsanalys. De etiska forskningsprinciperna samt kvalitetskriteriet tillförlitlighet har beaktats under undersökningens gång. I resultatet framkom att integrering, stöd och engagemang från samhället, skolan och omgivande aktörer upplevdes som förutsättningar för ensamkommande barns hälsa. Flera faktorer ansågs ha påverkan på ensamkommande barns hälsa, exempelvis trauman, utbildning, sociala relationer och möjlighet till fritidsaktiviteter. De omgivande aktörerna upplevde att dessa faktorer även kunde påverka och vara avgörande för varandra. Slutsatserna blev att det finns vissa faktorer som i större utsträckning upplevs påverka ensamkommande barns förutsättningar för hälsa. Trots att de ensamkommande barnen i viss mån anses ha goda förutsättningar finns det flera sätt att förbättra och öka deras möjligheter till god hälsa. / Since 2004, the amount of unaccompanied children in Sweden has increased and 2014 over 7000 children came here. An unaccompanied child is a child who is coming without its parents or someone who can act in their place. The most common health problem among unaccompanied children is mental illness, for instance because of traumatic incidents in their lives. The aim of this study is to describe the involved persons’ opinions about unaccompanied children’s opportunities for good health. The surveys for the study have been conducted by eight qualitative separate interviews. The persons interviewed were people who in some way have continuous contact with unaccompanied children in a smaller district in the middle of Sweden. The interviews were analyzed in a manifest content analysis. The ethic principles for research and trustworthiness have been observed during the study. The result shows that integration, support and engagement from the community, school and persons involved were experienced as conditions for unaccompanied childrens health. Several factors were considered influence unaccompanied children’s health, for example trauma, education, social relations and the possibility of recreational activities. The persons involved considered that these factors also could influence and be crucial for each other. The conclusions were that there are some factors that to a greater extent are experienced to influence unaccompanied children’s opportunities for good health. Even though the unaccompanied children in some degree are considered to have good opportunities, there are several ways of improving and increasing their possibilities for good health.