The main purpose of this study is to find out what kind of help social service in one selected municipality in Sweden can provide for children who have witnessed or been victims of domestic violence. Using focus group interview this study investigate how the social workers meet the needs of these children. The bases for our analysis are the Organization Theory and the Attachment Theory, as well as previous research. Important results are that the social services are dependent on notifications in order to do their work and that the most common interventions are foster care, emergency foster care and/or family therapy. The difficulties that social workers perceive their work are unjustified families and heavy workloads. The results showed the difficulties of helping these children, and indicated that children who have witnessed domestic violence not always receive adequate response.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to scrutinise the statements from the social authorities to the criminal courts in the juvenile justice process, and to analyse in what extent these statements influenced the criminal courts in their penalty sentencing for boys aged 15-17 years, suspected and convicted for assault and battery and grand assault and battery, in Stockholm County the years of 1998 and 2000.</p><p>In 1998 a child’s perspective and the concept of the best interest of the child was introduced in the Social services act. A legal reform in 1999 in the criminal code introduced the concept of just desert for juvenile offenders, to make the juvenile justice system more predictable and fair and to make the statements more clarifying to the courts. Laws, preparatory documents and legal doctrine are studied. Theoretically, discourse analysis and neoinstitutional organisational theories are points of departure. The empirical material consists of criminal statistics, 103 statement from the welfare agencies and 103 criminal court records. The social authorities statements are scrutinised to discern specific patterns of intervention and then analysed together with criminal court records. The result indicates that the juvenile justice system seems to be unpredictable and unfair due to several factors linked to each other. There is a striking uncertainty in the statements because of great variations. The concept of the best interest of the child is hardly expressed as an interest in the statements. Social interventions are proposed both on the behalf of the child’s needs and to punish the child in a criminal justice mode. The statements seem to influence the courts sentencing in a great extent but there are difficulties to discern the grounds for differences in criminal sentencing. The juvenile justice system and the social services laws seem to be incompatible by contradictions in terms.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to scrutinise the statements from the social authorities to the criminal courts in the juvenile justice process, and to analyse in what extent these statements influenced the criminal courts in their penalty sentencing for boys aged 15-17 years, suspected and convicted for assault and battery and grand assault and battery, in Stockholm County the years of 1998 and 2000. In 1998 a child’s perspective and the concept of the best interest of the child was introduced in the Social services act. A legal reform in 1999 in the criminal code introduced the concept of just desert for juvenile offenders, to make the juvenile justice system more predictable and fair and to make the statements more clarifying to the courts. Laws, preparatory documents and legal doctrine are studied. Theoretically, discourse analysis and neoinstitutional organisational theories are points of departure. The empirical material consists of criminal statistics, 103 statement from the welfare agencies and 103 criminal court records. The social authorities statements are scrutinised to discern specific patterns of intervention and then analysed together with criminal court records. The result indicates that the juvenile justice system seems to be unpredictable and unfair due to several factors linked to each other. There is a striking uncertainty in the statements because of great variations. The concept of the best interest of the child is hardly expressed as an interest in the statements. Social interventions are proposed both on the behalf of the child’s needs and to punish the child in a criminal justice mode. The statements seem to influence the courts sentencing in a great extent but there are difficulties to discern the grounds for differences in criminal sentencing. The juvenile justice system and the social services laws seem to be incompatible by contradictions in terms.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka utredande socialsekreterares förståelse av och förhållningssätt till principen om barnets bästa. Tidigare forskning visar på att barnets bästa som begrepp är svårdefinierat, att hög arbetsbelastning och tidsbrist kan påverka bedömningar om barnets bästa och att tillit samt en förtroendefull relation mellan socialsekreteraren och barnet kan främja delaktigheten. Resultatet analyserades utifrån Bronfenbrenners utvecklingsekologiska teori och handlingsutrymme som teoretiskt begrepp. Studien har använt sig av en kvalitativ metod bestående av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det empiriska materialet analyserades med hjälp av en tematisk analys för att finna teman. Socialsekreterarna upplever sig ha ett stort handlingsutrymme för att göra egna bedömningar om barnet bästa. Trots att resultatet visade att begreppet var svårt att definiera var socialsekreterarna relativt eniga om hur de förstår barnets bästa och vad de väger in i bedömningen. Resultatet visade även att socialsekreterarna för det mesta hinner träffa barnen vid endast ett tillfälle under utredningsprocessen på grund av hög arbetsbelastning och brist på tid. Verksamhetens ekonomiska förutsättningar visade sig även ha en inverkan på socialsekreterarnas handlingsutrymme när det gäller att bedöma barnets bästa. / The aim of this study was to examine investigative social workers understanding of and approach to the principle of the best interests of the child. Previous research shows that it’s difficult to define the best interests of the child. Research also shows that a high workload and lack of time can affect assessments of the child’s best interests, and that a trusting relationship between the social worker and the child can promote participation. The theoretical background is based on Bronfenbrenner’s developmental ecology theory and room for maneuver as a theoretical concept. A qualitative method has been used and the empirical material was analyzed using a thematic analysis. Social workers feel that they have a large margin of maneuver to make assessments. Although the result showed that the concept was difficult to define, the social workers had a similar understanding on how they understood the concept and what they take in consideration in the assessment. However, the social workers have for the most part only time to meet the children at one point during the investigation process. Financial conditions also turned out to have an impact on their room for maneuver when it comes to assessing the child’s best interests.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur förvaltningsrätten resonerar kring barns behov när bedömning görs att vården enligt 21 § LVU (SFS 1990:52) inte kan upphöra. Studiens teoretiska ramverk bestod av socialekologisk systemteori, och barns behov användes som ett analytiskt verktyg. Studiens design var en kvalitativ dokumentstudie med abduktiv ansats. Materialet bestod av tjugotre domar från en förvaltningsrätt i Mellansverige som berörde prövning av möjlighet till upphörande av vård enligt LVU. Data har analyserats med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys och resultatet visar sju subkategorier insorterade under följande huvudkategorier; ”barnets utveckling”, ”familj och miljö” samt ”föräldrarnas förmåga”. Studien visar att förvaltningsrätten resonerar kring barns behov utifrån att barnets utveckling kan påverkas negativt av föräldrarnas oförmåga att tillgodose barnets behov, samt utifrån att det inte skett tillräckliga förändringar i barnets miljö. / The purpose of the study was to examine the administrative court’s reasoning regarding children’s needs when care under 21 § the Swedish Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (SFS 1990: 52) is not revoked. Social Ecological systems theory constituted the theoretical framework while children’s needs was used as an analytical tool. The design was a qualitative document study with an abductive approach. Twentythree court orders were analyzed with a qualitative content analysis and the results show seven subcategories sorted under the following three main categories; "The child’s development", "family and environment" and "parent’s ability". The study shows that the court's reasons are based on the fact that the child’s development can be negatively affected by parent’s inability to meet the child’s needs and that there have not been sufficient changes in the child’s environment.

In this study semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews were conducted with sixteen female street children aged 15 to 18, who were engaged in commercial sex work. These children were conveniently selected to explore the social dislocation of and social support for female street children engaged in commercial sex work. In addition, two focus group discussions consisting of nine female street children each, as well as seven key informant individual interviews, were conducted. This study found that female children engaged in commercial sex work experienced a high degree of social dislocation and that the children who participated in this study tended to create their own communities and isolated themselves from the broader community in which they lived. This study further found that different support programmes had been introduced to alleviate the problems experienced by these children and that a number of organisations delivered support services to address their needs. / Sociology / M. A. (Sociology)

In this study semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews were conducted with sixteen female street children aged 15 to 18, who were engaged in commercial sex work. These children were conveniently selected to explore the social dislocation of and social support for female street children engaged in commercial sex work. In addition, two focus group discussions consisting of nine female street children each, as well as seven key informant individual interviews, were conducted. This study found that female children engaged in commercial sex work experienced a high degree of social dislocation and that the children who participated in this study tended to create their own communities and isolated themselves from the broader community in which they lived. This study further found that different support programmes had been introduced to alleviate the problems experienced by these children and that a number of organisations delivered support services to address their needs. / Sociology / M. A. (Sociology)