The aim of this study was to understand how staff at residential homes for unaccompanied children experiences their professional role. The main focus of the study was on how the staff defines their professional role and how they handle the situation to be close and at the same time keep a distance towards the children in care. Five women and two men were interviewed at five different residential homes for unaccompanied children. By symbolic interactionism we are able to see that the professional roles are shaped through interaction with the children in care as well as in relation to colleagues. The main role for the staff is to build up a relationship with the children. This also includes an emotional aspect which demands ability to closeness at the same time as there is a need to be able to keep a distance. This also marks the interviewee’s definition of how to be professional. How the children’s age defines has also an impact on the staff’s definition of their profession which means that both staff and children are forced to redefining their role in the residential home. We also found that a main purpose in the role as staff was to actively work with integration towards the children in care. Another interesting result that affects the ability to closeness and distance is the fact of being a young woman as staff, because of the cultural differences that exists between staff and the children in care.

Syftet med studien har varit att beskriva och förstå socialsekreterares erfarenheter av etiska dilemman som de upplevde i arbetet med ensamkommande barn och unga under 2015/2016 samt hur socialsekreterare hanterade dessa. Studien har haft en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Sammanlagt har sju socialsekreterare från Västmanlands län som arbetade med ensamkommande barn och unga under 2015/2016 deltagit i studien. Studiens resultat har analyserats och tolkats utifrån teorin om coping, normativ etik och även tidigare forskning på området. Studiens resultat visar att socialsekreterare inom socialtjänsten ställdes inför en mängd svårigheter men som inte var renodlade etiska dilemman, utan hade karaktärer i form av etiska svårigheter och problem. Dessa etiska svårigheter har uppstått på flera arenor, i samverkan med Migrationsverket, ur en politiskt styrd organisation med riktlinjer och ekonomiska restriktioner samt i mötet med barn och ungdomar. Resultatet visar även att socialsekreterarna påverkats och berörts både privat som professionellt. Fem av sju socialsekreterare har varit sjukskrivna under perioden och flera har haft svårt att hantera etiska svårigheter. Socialsekreterarna har hanterat dessa etiska svårigheter genom att använda olika copingstrategier. / The purpose of this study has been to describe and understand social workers’ experiences of dealing with ethical dilemmas that arose in the work with unaccompanied children and young people during 2015/2016, and how social workers’ handled these dilemmas. The study has had a qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews. In total, seven social workers from the county of Västmanland, Sweden, who worked with unaccompanied children and young people during 2015/2016, participated in the study. The results of the study have been analysed and interpreted based on the theory of coping, normative ethics and also previous research in the field. The results of the study show that social workers faced a lot of difficulties, but were not purely ethical dilemmas, but had characters in the form of ethical difficulties and problems. These ethical difficulties have arisen in several arenas, in collaboration with the Swedish Migration Board, from a politically-driven organization with guidelines and economic constraints as well as in the meeting with children and young people. The result also shows that the social wokers have been affected both privately and professionally. Five out of seven social workers have been sick-listed during the period, and several have had difficulty coping with ethical difficulties. The social workers have dealt with these ethical difficulties using different coping strategies.

The aim of this study was to examine the concept of “integration” within residential care homes for unaccompanied children. More specifically its aim was to find out how the social workers themselves within residential care homes for unaccompanied children understand the concept of integration and how they work for it. The study was based on a qualitative semi-structured interviews with seven social workers within four residential care homes for unaccompanied children. Six themes were identified that seemed to play a role in the discussions about integration: development-acceptance, learning process, communication & relationships, process, personality and common sense. The analysis was based on previous research in the field and the theory of action by Pierre Bourdieu called practical reason. As a conclusion the first three themes can be seen as an understanding of the concept of “integration”. The last three themes exemplify the practical integration work. Despite the lack of regulatory documents, the social workers show a common understanding of the concept and a similar implementation which can be explained by a dominant implicit doxa within the field.

Inom denna studie har vi intervjuat socialarbetare kring deras upplevelser av samverkan mellan myndigheter och involverade personer i arbetet med ensamkommande flyktingbarn. Studien genomfördes genom semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer, där verksamma socialarbetare inom barn- och ungdomsenheten med specialisering på ensamkommande flyktingbarn intervjuades kring deras upplevelse av samverkansprocesser. Utifrån teoretiska perspektiv som KASAM och human relationsskolan har vi analyserat studiens datamaterial. Redovisning av tidigare forskning, studiens metodologiska utgångspunkter och tillvägagångssätt ges ingående. Resultatet av studien redovisas och analyseras. Slutligen förs en kritisk diskussion där även möjliga tolkningar av resultat diskuteras. Av studiens resultat har vi identifierat socialarbetares upplevelser av hinder för en effektiv samverkan vilket utgörs av fyra faktorer. Studiens resultat visade att samverkan möjliggör för socialarbetaren att skapa ett starkt nätverk för barnet samt ändra barnets negativa syn av myndigheter och vuxna. Samverkan möjliggör även ökad effektivitet och kvalitet i socialarbetarens handläggning där även behovsbedömningen underlättas.

The aim of this study was to increase the understanding of how foster parents of unaccompanied children and youths build and maintain relations with the foster placed children. Furthermore, this study highlights the foster parents’ view of being a foster parent and the effects of the commitment of being a foster home. The empirical material data has been collected by interviews with seven foster parents’ in Sweden and the theories that have been used for the analysis of the result are systems theory and a concept from the attachment theory, called internal working models. The conclusions of this study are that foster parents of unaccompanied children and youths have an ability to establish a valuable relationship with said children, however they experience cultural and linguistic difficulties in the process of establishing a relationship with the youths and children. Another conclusion is that the foster parents’ family lives have changed in positive terms while being a foster home.

Thesis (M. Dev. (Development in Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Since transition from the system of apartheid to democratic rule, South Africa became the destination for many migrants and refugees from across the African continent. Many children are travelling alone or become separated from their care givers or parents once they reach the country. The migration of residents of other African countries, particularly Zimbabwe, into the Limpopo province has resulted in the increase in the number of unaccompanied minors within the province, in Polokwane and the child protection system, and it requires collaborative intervention. The child protection system, particularly in the Child and Youth Care Centres, has unaccompanied minors who remain in the system for more than the stipulated time in relation to the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. The aim of the study was to explore the challenges faced by social workers in managing the cases of unaccompanied minors in Child and Youth Care Centers in Polokwane. This study employed a qualitative case study research design and one-on-one interview as a primary data collection method. The qualitative data was analysed using a thematic approach. The findings of this study indicate that most of unaccompanied minors were in dire situation and lack proper documentation. The findings also revealed that there were a number of critical child protection challenges that existed in the management of the cases of unaccompanied minors by government officials. The study further highlighted that social workers were not adequately capacitated and there was lack of intersectoral collaboration and insufficient resources to deal with the multiple issues that affect unaccompanied minors in Polokwane. It is therefore recommended that the social worker should also be capacitated regarding different items of legislation that deal with unaccompanied and foreign children in order to ensure proper implementation of the Acts. Department of Social Development must also popularise and provide training to social workers and all relevant stakeholders on the guidelines on separated and unaccompanied minors living outside their country of origin. DSD should make an amendment of the Children’s Act to include unaccompanied minors and also ensure that all stakeholders are trained. The researcher also recommends coordination of service among government departments in order to ensure an effective and integrated child protection system

Den oroande situationen i världen speciellt i länderna med krig tvingar barnen att lämna deras länder ensamma och hamna i ett annat land med massa svårigheter och överraskning. Det har varit brister i ensamkommande barns integration och utveckling från myndigheter och socialtjänsten, Jag har undersökt om hur ensamkommande barn upplevde deras integrationsprocess, utveckling och försörjning i Sverige. Syftet med studien är att studera hur ensamkommande barn som har kommit till Sverige efter 2015 har upplevt integrationsprocessen med fokus på socialtjänstens roll i denna process, Metod: Undersökningen gjordes genom kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjufrågor som formulerades och ställdes till fem utvalda ensamkommande barn i Borås. Intervjuerna genomfördes på Dari språk hemma hos mig, spelades in och transkriberades. Resultat: Ensamkommande barn upplevde att situationen vid anländ till Sverige både bra och överraskande. Situationen ändrades vid tiden och blev svårare när asylprocessen fördröjde, barnen fyllde 18 år som ledde till konsekvensen att barnens asylprocess påverkas negativ. Barnen fick inte tillräcklig hjälp från socialtjänsten på grund av kontakt avbrott samt brist på resurser. Barnens sociala nätverk och självförtroende hjälpte dem i fortsättning att klara sig i samhället och försörja sig. Slutsats: Ensamkommande barn fick inte den hjälp som skulle förbättra deras integrationsprocess och utveckling. Socialtjänsten istället prioriterade barnens andra behov det vill säga skolgång, boende och ekonomisk stöd. Barnen lyckades klara sig med hjälp av deras sociala nätverk, kontakter och språkkunskap. / The worrying situation in the world, especially in the countries with war forces the children to leave their countries alone and end up in another country with lots of difficulties and surprises. There have been insufficiencies in performance of social services and other authorities regarding unaccompanied children’s integration and development. I have investigated how unaccompanied children experienced their integration process, development and support in Sweden. The purpose of my research is to study the unaccompanied children who experienced the process of their integration after they came to Sweden in 2015 in accordance with the role of the social services. Metod: The survey was conducted using a qualitative method with semi. Structured interview questions that were formulated and asked to five selected unaccompanied children in Borås. The interviews were conducted in Dari language at my home, recorded and transcribed. Results: Unaccompanied children experienced that the situation on arrival in Sweden was both good and surprising. The situation changed over time and became more difficult when the asylum process was delayed, the children turned 18 which led to the consequence that the children’s asylum process was negatively affected. The children did not receive sufficient help from the social services due to contact interruptions and lack of resources which directly affected their integration process. The children’s social networks and self-confidence continued to help them survive in society and support themselves. Conclusion: The unaccompanied children did not receive the help that would improve their integration process and development. The social services instead prioritized the children’s other needs such as schooling, housing and financial support. Children managed to cope with the help of their social networks, contacts and language skills.

Part of creating relationships in a new context includes trying to understand the sexual scripts in a given discourse. Because creating sexual relationships is a part of sexual health it is, therefore, important to explore how sexual relationships are a part of the sex education curriculum for unaccompanied children and young adults. Through a critical discourse analysis the authors conclude that RFSU’s sex education curriculum includes a specific construct of the concept ‘sexual relationship’ that reveals what RFSU sees as the needs of unaccompanied children and young adults. Sexual relationships are constructed in the sex education curriculum in line with four themes: norm criticism, mutuality/consent/respect, sexual rights, and risk-emphasized education. These themes illuminate the needs that are considered when educating unaccompanied children and young adults. Additionally, the study shows that in the sex education curriculum; The creation of relationships in new contexts is not prioritized. This study also highlights how practical information about sexual scripts, may paradoxically, conflict with the anti-discriminatory and inclusive aim of RFSU’s sex education. However, the authors also conclude that the absence of concrete examples about sexual scripts in the curriculum, might prevent participants from gaining useful tools navigating their sexual relationships.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was incorporated into Swedish legislation in 2020 to strengthen the child's best interests and perspective in areas such as asylum law (UNICEFSweden, 2020a). The purpose of this essay is to examine how the individual asylum grounds of unaccompanied children are handled in the asylum process and in what way the child's best interests are actually considered in the asylum process before and after the incorporation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This essay will answer the following question:How has the application of the best interests of the child according to Article 3 in asylum cases for unaccompanied children changed before and after the incorporation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child into Swedish law based on the theory of the best interests of the child as an open concept? Through a qualitative content analysis of judgments, changes and deficiencies in the protection of the rights of unaccompanied children are identified. The study examines how the courts take into account the best interests of the childbased on Schiratzki's (2005) legal theory of the best interests of the child as an open concept.The results of the study have shown that before incorporation, the judgments extensively consider the best interests of the child according to Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by highlighting potential consequences upon return. However, after incorporation, the migration court fails in considering the best interests of the child. This is because the concept of 'the best interests of the child' is comprehensive, and the court does not assess this from a holistic perspective, which is important for a fair assessment according to Schiratzki (2005).

The purpose of this study is to investigate how unaccompanied children have contributed to or affected Swedish society, and how society's reception has affected these children in 2015. This study investigates the situation of unaccompanied children in Sweden in 2015, a year marked by an increased flow of asylum seekers and concerns that came with receiving and integrating these children. The project aims to shed light on the complicated variations in reception of unaccompanied children as well as their impact and contribution on Swedish society. The study conducts interviews with unaccompanied children and representatives from Swedish society using qualitative semi-structured interviews.   The result showed that unaccompanied children in 2015 have influenced and contributed to Swedish society. By working, paying taxes and also participating in society's various social systems. It turned out that society has influenced the children both positively and negatively. Freedom affected them positively and authorities such as the Swedish Migration Agency have affected them negatively. Unaccompanied children have shown gratitude to Swedish society despite several shortcomings that existed since their arrival in 2015. The children had been given great opportunities for development such as education, freedom and a safe life.