La rareté des travaux conduits en droit de l’aide sociale, plus particulièrement en contentieux de l’aide sociale, a motivé l’engagement d’un travail de recherche portant sur « le parcours contentieux de l’aide sociale ». L’observation du dispositif institutionnel et procédural existant a été conduite au regard des impératifs du droit au recours effectif grâce à la notion de « parcours contentieux ». Cette dernière s’est révélée tout à fait adaptée pour rendre compte du cheminement d’un usager de l’aide sociale engagé dans une contestation. Elle a permis d’identifier différents facteurs juridiques de non-recours au juge et au(x) droit(s) et correspondait à la spécificité de la séquence chronologique de la contestation observée (de l’émission d’une décision défavorable par l’administration envers un usager à l’obtention d’un acte de fin). Le champ matériel de l’étude a été circonscrit au contentieux des prestations dont la compétence est confiée aux commissions départementales d’aide sociale en première instance, à la commission centrale en appel et au Conseil d’État en cassation. Il a été montré dans quelle mesure l’accès juridictionnel aux droits à l’aide sociale dépendait des possibilités d’accéder aux juges de l’aide sociale. La spécialisation institutionnelle et procédurale du contentieux de l’aide sociale a été réalisée avec des moyens juridiques et financiers tout à fait insuffisants, au point de compromettre l’accès aux droits. Dans sa forme actuelle, elle est donc un échec. Seul l’office des juges contribue à la garantie des droits à l’aide sociale sans que cela permette la réalisation contentieuse de ces derniers. / The judicial accessing to rights to social assistance depends on the possibilities of access to the judges of welfare. The institutional and procedural specialization of litigation of welfare cases was made with legal and financial resources quite insufficient, to the point of underming access to rights. In its present form, it is a failure.

The focus of this thesis is on social workers’ knowledge in assessing and making decisions in child welfare cases. The primary aim is to identify what skills or knowledge social workers find most useful within child welfare agencies in Swedish municipalities. Six different types of knowledge, social policy and the approach of child welfare cases are perspectives considered in the analysis. The interviews with social workers were held in three agencies in southern Sweden, in 2014. Main results: social workers’ think it is very important to have different kinds of knowledge and skills in order to perform such professional work as possible. They value peer support where they can exchange experiences and knowledge with each other. The importance to specialize after the bachelor’s degree in social work was also revealed in the results, due to the social work supplementary course only represented undergraduate studies. The approach of child welfare cases it was found that there are many different ways to manage them, but the main thing is to manage the cases with great respect and always strive to apply volunteer efforts where it’s possible. Another point is the political importance which we not counted on.

The study is about how social workers perceive their power to be partly expressed and partly handled in the meeting with guardians in advance assessments in child welfare cases. The data collection was done through eight semi-structured interviews, which were done with a question guide. The question guide was designed so that we could answer our study´s questions. The analysis was done using a qualitative content analysis. As a theoretical framework we used Foucault's theory regarding power. The results of the study showed that the power expresses itself by sending summons to guardians. But also through the law and the guardian's fear of social workers' knowledge, as well as due to the guardian's ignorance regarding advance assessments. The results of the study also showed that social workers manage power by helping the guardian create trust in the social worker, motivating the guardian. Social workers also manage power by explaining the situation, listening, changing the focus and being clear through, for example, threats about their power to open a childcare investigation.