Denna kvalitativa studie med hermeneutisk utgångspunkt belyser hur yrkesverksamma beskriver deras arbete gällande barnavårdsärenden samt hur de yrkesverksamma beaktar barnperspektivet, barns perspektiv och barns bästa. Via frågeställningar som lyder hur yrkesverksamma beskriver sitt arbete med placeringar av barn i familjehem och hur yrkesverksamma reflekterar över placerade barns känslor, mående och delaktighet under och efter placering, har vi erhållit följande resultat: Yrkesverksamma arbetar utifrån de riktlinjer och lagar som de uppmanas till. I deras arbete tar de hänsyn till barns perspektiv, barnperspektivet och barns bästa. Problematiken föreligger däremot i att yrkesverksamma måste bli tydligare i sitt arbete innefattande att delge information och inkludera barn i deras ärenden. Detta eftersom att barn inte förstår hur deras perspektiv, behov och bästa ligger till grund för beslutet av att bli placerad. Slutsatsen är att det utifrån detta är förståeligt att barn känner att deras rättigheter till viss del försummas.

The aim of this study was to investigate how the media portrays the social workers professional practice and to investigate how media reports on childcare issues. The method used to answer our questions was critical discourse analysis in which Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model was in focus. The study also contains the social constructivism as the science theoretical approach and media logic as the theory. The study's approach is based on reading news articles from the Swedish tabloid newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen. Relevant text from the news articles was extracted as quotes, which underlies the result presented. In our study we found, based on our questions, a pattern in the newspaper reports where there are links to attentive events such as children's deaths or inadequate interventions in a custody. From the knowledge gained from research and theory, it is easier for a newspaper to highlight drama and sensation of something that is negative, rather than positive. Based on our method and the result presented, we also identified a discourse that we chose to term as an acting discourse. Because on one hand, the tabloid newspapers criticizes social workers and their occupational role by questioning when a custody has taken place. On the other hand, the social workers are criticized when they have not intervened. It can be concluded that the underlying newspaper reports describe that the occupational role and competence of current social workers are a question of their behavior and non-action. From what we noted in the papers' reports, the image appears to be that the way newspapers portray/describe social workers is that, regardless of their actions social workers are perceived as not fulfilling the responsibility connected with their professional role.

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.