Street children are the most vulnerable group in any society. It is estimated that 150 millions children lives on the street in the world. Most of these children lack all basic needs. This study is been done in Babati district, Tanzania. Focus of this study is to examine the possibilities to Education and Healthcare of street children in Babati. This is a qualitative study based on semi structured interviews with street children, authorities responsible for Education and Healthcare of these children and other actors involve in this subject. The result of this study is that the government of Tanzania has developed a guideline (focus on HIV/AIDS related problems causing orphans) to assist these children with shelter, food, education, healthcare etc. There are 656 identified street children in Babati is receiving assistance from the authority but the interviewed street children are receiving any assistance are none. NGOs in Babati working with street children follow the same guideline assisting street children. Children not falling under this guideline do not have many chances to receive any assistance from the authorities and other actors in Babati. The authorities and actors need to expand their focus on reaching all street children in Babati.

This thesis poses a number of questions about research and pedagogy with young children under three, with a particular focus on the opportunities for children’s ‘voices’ to be heard and for them to participate in the planning of the curriculum in early years’ settings. The persistent division between education and care has been an issue in many European countries for a long time (OECD, 2006). The thesis reports on the findings of a research project in both England and Greece. The research aims were to consider how the meaning of children’s participation is defined in the settings in the two countries; whether children use the resources provided according to adult expectation and initial planning and how practitioners react to children’s choices by supporting, ignoring or disapproving them. The theoretical underpinning for the thesis is drawn particularly from the work of Rogoff and Corsaro. Research focused on six children in both England and Greece who were observed during their involvement in both adult directed and child initiated activities in the settings. An ethnographic approach together with a range of ‘participatory’ methods were used including data gathered through video recordings made by both children and adults.This study has found that children express their perceptions during an activity in a very complicated way, elaborating and examining all the parameters that could place them in trouble. Additionally, the findings have shown that what the child is doing during an activity is not always what he is thinking, while many times children appeared to have their own agenda, thus ignoring or subverting adult plans. The main finding is that no matter what the differences and similarities in early years’ education and care between the two countries are, there is an urgent need to promote the children’s participatory rights, as adult’s authority and power is generally taken for granted. This thesis argues for ethical tensions in research with young children and for balanced pedagogy where both adults’ and children’s voices influence the curriculum.

The primary objective of this study is to clarify a child's perspective within family matters surrounding financial aid from social services likewise how social workers interpret and implement the perspective in their tasks. Answers to the study's questions are supported by theories about the capacity for action and Shier's theory, Pathways to Participation. The foundation of this study is based on, among other things, scientific articles, literature, and reports that build the analysis which diverges into several themes as a result. The results showed that the children's perspective was inconclusive and a complex concept to define both in research and legislative texts, while simultaneously showing that the social secretary's broad and respectively narrow possibility of interpreting the law could be received as both negative and positive in the assessment of the child's best interests. There were also flaws in the documentation regarding the child's situation. In conclusion, some of the results of this study were based on the fact that the given legislative texts and guidelines did not provide a clear definition of how the social secretary should proceed in their work with the children's perspective and in the child's best interests.

The United Nations have issued concerns regarding children’s right to play, which is one of the rights that are written in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). One prominent concern revolves around how increasing educational requirements push the right to free play aside in order to offer education to children. This study aims to shine light on how preschool teachers in Sweden describes free play, how hey motivate it and how they work with it. This study is based on interviews with five preschool teachers to get their understanding of these questions. By using theoretical concepts of: instutionalization, the threatened play and play enrichment, the information told by the participants have been analyzed.    The result of the study shows that play is rated highly by the teachers and that they motivate it mostly from the perspective of its function to teach. Even though the preschool teachers work in different ways, all of them aspires to foster free play in preschool. However, the study shows that there is a tendency from the adults to only define something as play if they find a purpose in what the children are doing. If they don’t find a purpose in the children’s actions then it is not considered play and gets interrupted by the teacher. This means that there is a risk that some play is not approved by the teachers in preschool, and that the children might be limited in their ways to play.

Vår vetenskapliga essä handlar om vilan bland de äldre barnen i förskolan. Den vänder sig till studenter inom förskoleutbildningar, alla verksamma inom förskolan och andra som vilar med barn. Inledningsvis får vi möta Marlen som ställs inför dilemmat när ett barn som inte får somna, somnar. Vi möter även Maria som får en väldigt stressad vila när organisationen kring vilan brister. Vi upplever att vilan är en av de mest oreflekterade delarna av förskolans verksamhet, ändå har många väldigt starka åsikter om hur den ska gå till. Vi vill med denna essä undersöka hur vi ser på vilan i förskolan idag. Frågor vi undersöker är vad vila är och varför den behövs? Hur kan förskollärare möta barns, föräldrars och pedagogers olika perspektiv kring vilan? Vilka möjligheter ges barn i förskolan till medbestämmande i sin egen vila? Reflekteras det över vilans betydelse i förskolan och hur kan reflektionen i så fall påverka verksamheten kring vilan? Detta undersöker vi genom en hermeneutisk forskningsansats och vi använder hela tiden skrivandet som en metod för att kunna reflektera vidare och söka svar i vår praktiska kunskap. Genom olika teoretiska perspektiv, främst inom etik och reflektion med inspiration från bland annat Eva Johansson och Maria Hammaren får läsaren en bättre förståelse kring problematiken som beskrivs i våra berättelser. Genom reflektion kring detta tittar vi även närmare på barnkonventionen och förskolans läroplan. Vi beskriver hur stressen ökar hos dagens förskolebarn och tittar över olika alternativ till den traditionella vilan som kan motverka detta, så som yoga, massage och miljö. Essän kommer inte fram till något optimalt sätt att vila med äldre barn, vilket inte heller var vårt syfte, utan den undersöker olika alternativ. Vi kommer fram till en förnyad förståelse över hur viktigt det är med tid för återhämtning och att pedagoger reflekterar över vilan och sitt förhållningsätt kring detta.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur den sociala barnavårdens socialsekreterare hanterar mognadsbedömningarnas komplexitet, mer specifikt hur de resonerar gällande eventuella skillnader som beaktas mellan barn i bedömningarna av olika barns mognad. Vidare syftade studien till att undersöka hur socialsekreterare resonerar kring deras tolkningsföreträde över barns mognad respektive barns rätt att komma till tals i barnavårdsutredningar. Studien tar avstamp i kritiska barndomsstudier som teoretiskt ramverk och baserar sig empiriskt på sju intervjuer med socialsekreterare. Våra fynd visar att även om socialsekreterarna talar om alla barn som unika individer framhävs ”det talbara” och ”det sårbara” barnet som avgörande olikheter när olika bedömningar förs på tal. Respondenterna diskuterar ett ”starkt barnperspektiv” och samtidigt hur mandatet över att bestämma barns mognad kan vara “läskigt” och “farligt” då mognadsbedömningen har stor inverkan på barns liv. Resultatet av vår studievisar att det är komplicerat att göra mognadsbedömningar eftersom det inte finns tydliga riktlinjer om hur de ska genomföras. / The aim of this study was to examine how child welfare social workers handle the complexity of maturity assessments, and more precisely how they reason concerning the potentialdifferences between children that they take into account in such assessments. Furthermore, the aim was to examine how social workers reason concerning their interpretation primacy over children’s maturity versus the right of the children to have their say in child welfare investigations. The study uses critical childhood studies as a theoretical framework. Empirically, it is based on seven semi-structured interviews with social workers. Our findings indicate that although social workers address all children as unique individuals, they still foreground differences related to “talkable” or “vulnerable” children as essential in assessments. The respondents discuss a “strong child perspective” and simultaneously how their mandate in maturity assessments is “scary” and even “dangerous” because maturity assessments have a great impact on children’s lives. The outcome of our study revealed that itis complex to carry out maturity evaluations on children as there are no comprehensible recommendations on how it should be carried out.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att söka förstå och identifiera barnombudens specifika kunskaper och erfarenheter för att kunna föra en konstruktiv diskussion kring vad detta kan tillföra andra yrkesgrupper som möter barn och unga. Detta genom att undersöka hur barnombud arbetar för att stärka barns rättigheter samt barnombudens reflektioner kring och erfarenheter av detta arbete. Studien baseras på intervjuer med barnombud i civila organisationer som företräder barn i kontakt med sociala välfärdsinstitutioner. Utifrån begrepp som advocacy (företrädarskap) och empowerment samt Harts (1992) delaktighetsstege har intervjuerna tolkats och analyserats. Barnombuden berättar om myndigheter som har svårt att göra barn delaktiga i beslut som rör dem samt om barn och unga som inte får sina rättigheter tillgodosedda. Barnombudens arbete handlar till stor del om att göra barn delaktiga. Detta sker genom att lyssna och skapa tillitsfulla relationer vilket barnombuden menar är en förutsättning för att kunna företräda. Detta relationsarbete kan ses som en del av en empowermentprocess som bidrar till ett ökat självförtroende hos barnen. Barnombuden upplever att det bidrar till att barn inser att deras upplevelser och åsikter betyder något. Barnombuden stärker barns delaktighet i myndighetsprocesser bland annat genom att vara en bro mellan barn och myndigheter där en viktig del är att göra myndighetsinformationen begriplig för barn och unga. Genom barnombudens arbete får barnen även en ökad kunskap och förståelse för sina rättigheter. En av slutsatserna är att även till synes små insatser, som att lyssna och tro på barn och ungas berättelser kan göra stora skillnader för barn och unga. En annan är att det finns en stor efterfrågan på barnombudens arbete som inte motsvarar de befintliga resurserna. Att barnkonvention blir svensk lag kommer sannolikt ha betydelse för barnombudens framtida arbete. Flera av barnombuden menar dock att det behövs mer än att barnkonventionen blir lag för att barns rättigheter ska kunna tillgodoses. / This qualitative study aims to understand and identify the children's right workers - advocates - specific knowledge and experiences in order to be able to contribute a creative discussion about what this can bring to other professional groups working with children and young people. This is done by examining how children advocates work to strengthen children's rights as well as their reflections on and experiences of this work. The study is based on interviews with advocates in non-profit organizations representing children in contact with social welfare institutions. The interviews have been analyzed by applying concepts and theories such as advocacy, empowerment and Roger Hart's Ladder of Participation. The advocates tell about authorities having difficulties making children involved in decisions concerning them, and about children and young people who are denied their rights. A vital part of the work of the advocates is about making children involved in decisions that affect their own lives. This is achieved by listening and creating relationships based on trust, which according to the advocates is a prerequisite for advocacy. The work with relationships can be seen as a part of a process of empowerment that gives children increased self-confidence. It also helps the children realize that their experiences and opinions matter. The advocates strengthen children's participation in authority decisions by being a link between children and the authorities. An important part is to make the information from the authorities understandable. Through the advocacy, the children also increase their knowledge and understanding of their rights. One conclusion is that even seemingly small efforts, such as listening and believing in their stories, can make big differences for the children. Another conclusion is that there is a large gap between existing resources and the need for the advocates’ work. The fact that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child becomes law in Sweden, will probably be of importance for the future work of the advocates. Several of the advocates claim that more must be done to ensure that children's rights are met.

The purpose of this study was to examine how SOS Children's Villages as an organization in Swaziland is affected by, and takes into account, the cultural, organizational and societal context in which it acts. Material was gathered through a field study during one month in one of the three SOS Children's Villages in Swaziland. The study has a qualitative approach and is based on the result from 12 semi-structured interviews with village mothers and other representatives from the organization. The other representatives were: social worker, program director, child and youth development coordinator, board member and educational manager. Since this study is both characterized by a specific historical, cultural and organizational context, we decided to connect the postcolonial perspective with an organization theory with focus on the concepts of culture, power and a children’s right perspective. The result from the study showed that SOS Children's village is affected by and takes into account the cultural and societal context in Swaziland in several ways. They do so, mainly by inlvolving the children in cultural values and activites. The result also showed that the village is influenced by the organizational field, because the SOS-Children´s village is in need of creating legitimacy. However, it becomes thus a dilemma how much the social work should be built upon, adapted, or should take into account the cultural, organizational and societal contexts to not maintain colonial worldviews.

Dans le cadre du jumelage d’une famille d’accueil Banque mixte et d’un enfant en situation de compromission, cette famille peut exprimer certaines restrictions, notamment quant aux facteurs ayant une incidence sur l’intensité de la prise en charge (déficiences physiques, mentales, troubles graves du comportement, etc.). Cependant, elle peut aussi émettre une réserve sur la « race » ou couleur de l’enfant, caractéristique sans implication fonctionnelle. Les enfants de couleur sont de ce fait considérés « plus difficiles à placer ». Mon mémoire questionne cette pratique où l’État – en avalisant les restrictions de « race » ou couleur posées par les familles d’accueil Banque mixte qu’il rémunère – crée, dans l’allocation des ressources de santé et de services sociaux, une disparité préjudiciable aux enfants racisés, et ce, sur la base, précisément, de leur « race » ou couleur. / As part of the current pairing process for a foster (potentially adoptive) family and a vulnerable child from the “Banque mixte”, whose security and development are on the line – this foster family may set certain restrictions, notably in relation to factors influencing the intensity of care (physical or mental limitations, behavioural disorders, etc.). However, the adoptive parent(s) can also restrict the offering of their service to « Whites only », limiting their potential care to children who fit their racial requirements, a criterion without any functional impact. Children of colour are therefore considered « more difficult to place ». Our master thesis questions this practice in which the State – by endorsing the racial restrictions issued by the Banque mixte foster family through placement and remuneration – creates in the resource allocation of health and social services a detrimental disparity on the mere basis of “race”.

Les droits de l’enfant constituent un domaine juridique relativement récent et toujours en construction. Ils sont aujourd’hui souvent déclinés dans une perspective dichotomique se balançant entre les droits-protection, qui visent à secourir l’enfant vulnérable, et les droits-libertés, qui s’appuient sur son besoin grandissant d’autonomie. Face à cette tension théorique, les décideurs, notamment les juges, se prêtent à un jeu continuel de mise en balance des droits et intérêts dans un équilibre variant à la lumière des contextes. À partir du constat de la dualité de l’approche moderne des droits de l’enfant, nous effectuerons un détour du côté de l’étude de la régulation sociojuridique, et ce, afin d’apporter un éclairage nouveau sur notre champ d’études. Nous étudierons alors l’évolution du phénomène régulatoire depuis le régime moderne vers le régime dit « post-moderne ». À la faveur d’un glissement épistémologique dans l’appréhension des phénomènes vers l’étude dialectique de leurs interactions, le régime de régulation sociojuridique post-moderne est associé à une figure réseautique s’articulant autour du droit réflexif, de l’État propulsif, du juge équilibriste et du justiciable, nouvel acteur de la scène régulatoire. De la présentation de ces différents pôles, nous dégagerons cinq composantes qui constituent, selon nous, la nouvelle matrice des interactions régulatoires : la négociation, la flexibilité, le pluralisme, la complexité et l’incertitude. Finalement, ce régime de régulation sociojuridique post-moderne constituera la grille d’analyse à travers laquelle nous reviendrons sur les droits de l’enfant. Disposant de nos nouveaux outils d’analyse, nous entendons, dans notre dernière partie, approfondir les traits fondamentaux des droits de l’enfant, peut-être en découvrir d’autres, tenter d’apporter un regard différent sur ce champ juridique et explorer les perspectives d’ouverture qui se dessineront avec lui. Pour ce faire, nous reviendrons tout d’abord sur les principes fondateurs de l’intérêt de l’enfant, puis de sa participation aux décisions qui le concernent, afin de les décliner sous l’angle des interactions post-modernes. Enfin, nous terminerons en nous arrêtant sur un champ plus spécifique des droits de l’enfant, la protection de la jeunesse, et userons de notre grille d’analyse dégagée du régime de la régulation post-moderne et de la matrice qui caractérise ses interactions, pour en proposer des recommandations. / Children’s rights are a relatively recent legal field, which is still under construction. They are often presented in a dichotomous perspective, oscillating between protection-based rights, which aim to help vulnerable children, and freedoms-based rights, which are based on their growing need for autonomy. Faced with this theoretical tension, decision-makers, especially judges, lend themselves to a continuous game of balancing rights and interests with results varying in the light of the contexts. Based on the observation of the duality of the modern approach to children’s rights, we will study socio-legal regulation in order to shed new light on our field of study. Moreover, we will study the evolution of the regulatory phenomenon from the modern regime to the so-called "postmodern" regime. Thanks to an epistemological shift in the apprehension of phenomena towards the dialectical study of their interactions, the post-modern socio-legal regulation regime is associated with a network structure articulated around reflexive law, the propulsive state, the balancing judge and the citizen. From the presentation of these different poles, we will identify five components which constitute, in our opinion, the new matrix of regulatory interactions: negotiation, flexibility, pluralism, complexity and uncertainty. Finally, once this postmodern socio-legal regulatory regime is established, we will use it as the analytical grid through which we will return to our study of children’s rights. With our new analytical tools in hands, we intend, in our last part, to deepen the fundamental features of the rights of the child, perhaps to discover others, to bring a different perspective to this legal field and to explore opening avenues that will emerge with it. To do this, we will first come back to the founding principles of the best interests of the child, then of his participation in decisions that concern him, in order to decline them under the angle of post-modern interactions. Finally, we will conclude by focusing on a more specific field of the rights of the child, the youth protection, and will use our analytical grid drawn from the regime of post-modern regulation and the matrix that characterizes its interactions, to offer recommendations.