The purpose of this study was to find out about the presence of unannounced home visits in foster families based on a survey of Swedish municipalities. The study also aimed at increasing knowledge about why unannounced home visits were made. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, mixed methods were used in both a quantitative and qualitative approach. The quantitative part of the study consisted of a census where all Swedish municipalities' guidelines and procedures for the prevention of foster homes were collected. Qualitative interviews were held with five social services, which stated in their guidelines that unannounced home visits should be made. To analyze both the study's quantitative and qualitative results, theories of legitimacy and power were used. The study concluded that the law on follow-up of foster homes gives municipalities a large margin of interpretation because the visits are regulated by the municipalities themselves. Another conclusion from the study was that no one knows which follow-up methods that really helps. Therefore, evaluations and research on follow-up of foster care must be established.

Hur ser familjehem och socialtjänst på familjehem? Denna studie undersöker och analyserar utifrån nio intervjuer med stöd i Habermas kommunikativa handlingsteori hur aktörer inom socialtjänst och familjehem upplever familjehemsvårdens uppdrag och dess förutsättningar.Resultatet beskrivs och analyseras utifrån uppdrag, samhälle och kommunikation. Det visar sig att det mellan grupperna finns likheter i hur uppdraget upplevs, i vilka behov de familjehemsplacerade barnen har, och även hur barnen initialt behöver tas emot i familjehemmet. Det skiljer sig dock i hur aktörerna uppfattar uppdragets mål, strategier och arbete. Det finns också skillnader i hur aktörerna ser på vad uppdraget kräver av familjehemmen. Respondenterna uttrycker begreppet ”visdom” som en viktig resurs hos familjehemsföräldrar, men beskriver olika förståelser för hur sådan utvecklas.Samhällets ramverk av förutsättningar för familjehem uppfattas av de flesta aktörer och samtliga intervjuade familjehem som otidsenliga. De menar att såväl ekonomiska förutsättningar som trygghet behöver utvecklas om det ska vara möjligt att rekrytera familjehem i framtiden.Kommunikationen, och framför allt kommunikationens kvalitet, mellan socialtjänst och familjehem avseende dels samverkan i ärenden och dels utveckling i form av handledning upplevs väldigt olika mellan grupperna. De kommunikativa processerna störs av såväl maktobalans och aktörernas olika positioner i förhållande till kommunikationen som bristande gemensam förståelse för arbetets innehåll och dess krav.Ett viktigt ämne för vidare studier torde vara förståelserna för vårdens innehåll och de kommunikativa processerna runt familjehemsvården, såväl i samverkan som i kompetens- och processutveckling. Hur begreppet visdom förhåller sig till familjehemsvård skulle i sig vara ett intressant område för vidare forskning.

De flesta barn som blir placerade utanför det egna hemmet lever i familjehem, varav många familjehemsföräldrar även har egna biologiska barn. Dessa barn osynliggörs av socialtjänsten, trots den vikt de tillskrivs i fostringsprocessen av ett placerat barn. Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur tidigare forskning har uppmärksammat familjehemsföräldrars biologiska barns uppväxt och på vilket sätt. Utifrån en systematisk, integrativ litteraturstudie har 15 artiklar valts ut och redogörs för i tematisk struktur varpå en analys har genomförts med hjälp av barndomssociologin som teoretisk ansats. Resultatet konstaterar att familjehemsföräldrars biologiska barn har en viktig roll i familjehemmet och är i många fall aktiva i behandlandet av det placerade barnet. Socialtjänsten bör förbereda familjehemsföräldrar och deras biologiska barn för de utmaningar, känslor och tankar biologiska barn kan erhålla när de agerar familjehem. / Most children that are placed in care are living in foster homes where many of the foster parents also have their own biological children. These biological children are found invisible by social services. The purpose of our study was to investigate how and to what extent previous research has drawn attention to foster carers own children. Based on a systematic, integrative literature study, 15 articles have been selected. We have analyzed these articles within the theoretical frame of childhood sociology. The results, states that the biological children have an important role in the foster care process and in the treatment process of the child being placed. The social services should prepare both parents and their children in the foster family for the challenges, feelings and thoughts that the biological children may possibly experience in the foster home care.

<p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Syftet med studien var att belysa hur familjehemsföräldrar uppfattar sina biologiska barns behov av stöd från socialtjänsten i familjehemsprocessen. De frågeställningar som legat till grund för studien är vilket stöd familjernas egna barn blir erbjudna från socialtjänsten och vilken form av stöd föräldrarna önskar för de egna barnen. Vidare på vilket sätt de egna barnen i ett familjehem är delaktiga i familjehemsprocessen.</p><p>Metoden som använts i studien är kvalitativ. Via information från familjehemsföräldrar har de biologiska barnens behov av stöd från socialtjänsten undersökts. Det skedde genom att intervjua fem familjehem som hade haft hemmaboende egna barn, under en period av minst tre till fem år, samtidigt som en fosterbarnsplacering. För att kunna besvara uppsatsens frågeställningar studerades tidigare forskning som till viss del belyser hur de biologiska barnen upplever sin situation.</p><p>Studiens teoretiska tolkningsram är förutom tidigare forskning också systemteori som visar på hur man i familjesystemets relationer påverkar varandra, samt utvecklingsteori som belyser barns behov och utveckling i olika åldrar.</p><p>Resultaten som framkommit i studien visar att de biologiska barnen bör synliggöras på ett tydligare sätt genom hela familjehemsprocessen. Vidare bör socialtjänsten se de biologiska barnen som en del av familjehemmet och erbjuda dem samma stöd, handledning och information som föräldrarna erbjuds.</p> / <p>“They are used to share us with others” - Biological children’s participation in the foster care process</p><p>Abstract</p><p>The purpose of this study was to enlighten how foster parents consider their biological children’s need of support from the Social services in the foster care process. The questions on which the study is based has been “Which support is actually offered from the Social services?” and “What form of support do the foster parents wish for their biological children?” Also “In which ways are the biological children part of the foster care process?”</p><p>The method used in the study is qualitative. Through information gathered from foster care parents, the biological children’s need of support has been examined. One of the criteria was that the five interviewed foster care homes had had biological children living at home, during a period of at least three to five years, coinciding with a foster care placement.</p><p>In order to answer the questions, raised for the study, previous research has been examined, which enlightens the situation of biological children in foster care families.</p><p>The studies theoretical frame of interpretation is, besides previous research, also system theory which shows how you, within the family systems relations affect each other, and development theory which enlightens children needs and development during various ages.</p><p>Results from the study shows the importance of making the biological children more visible during the entire foster care process.</p><p>Furthermore the Social service should see the biological course as part of the foster home, and offer them the same amount of support, guidance and information offered to the parents.</p>

Sammanfattning Syftet med studien var att belysa hur familjehemsföräldrar uppfattar sina biologiska barns behov av stöd från socialtjänsten i familjehemsprocessen. De frågeställningar som legat till grund för studien är vilket stöd familjernas egna barn blir erbjudna från socialtjänsten och vilken form av stöd föräldrarna önskar för de egna barnen. Vidare på vilket sätt de egna barnen i ett familjehem är delaktiga i familjehemsprocessen. Metoden som använts i studien är kvalitativ. Via information från familjehemsföräldrar har de biologiska barnens behov av stöd från socialtjänsten undersökts. Det skedde genom att intervjua fem familjehem som hade haft hemmaboende egna barn, under en period av minst tre till fem år, samtidigt som en fosterbarnsplacering. För att kunna besvara uppsatsens frågeställningar studerades tidigare forskning som till viss del belyser hur de biologiska barnen upplever sin situation. Studiens teoretiska tolkningsram är förutom tidigare forskning också systemteori som visar på hur man i familjesystemets relationer påverkar varandra, samt utvecklingsteori som belyser barns behov och utveckling i olika åldrar. Resultaten som framkommit i studien visar att de biologiska barnen bör synliggöras på ett tydligare sätt genom hela familjehemsprocessen. Vidare bör socialtjänsten se de biologiska barnen som en del av familjehemmet och erbjuda dem samma stöd, handledning och information som föräldrarna erbjuds. / “They are used to share us with others” - Biological children’s participation in the foster care process Abstract The purpose of this study was to enlighten how foster parents consider their biological children’s need of support from the Social services in the foster care process. The questions on which the study is based has been “Which support is actually offered from the Social services?” and “What form of support do the foster parents wish for their biological children?” Also “In which ways are the biological children part of the foster care process?” The method used in the study is qualitative. Through information gathered from foster care parents, the biological children’s need of support has been examined. One of the criteria was that the five interviewed foster care homes had had biological children living at home, during a period of at least three to five years, coinciding with a foster care placement. In order to answer the questions, raised for the study, previous research has been examined, which enlightens the situation of biological children in foster care families. The studies theoretical frame of interpretation is, besides previous research, also system theory which shows how you, within the family systems relations affect each other, and development theory which enlightens children needs and development during various ages. Results from the study shows the importance of making the biological children more visible during the entire foster care process. Furthermore the Social service should see the biological course as part of the foster home, and offer them the same amount of support, guidance and information offered to the parents.

This essay is about what considerations foster home secretary may face in their profession and how they use themselves as a tool. We were interested in the family home secretaries as a profession and we found that this area is relatively unexplored. The essay is based on semi-structured interviews with ten family home secretaries from seven different municipalities. To interpret our results, we used Mead's theory of "Mind, Self and Society". Our paper shows that family secretaries are faced with a variety of considerations in the selection of foster homes. We have also presented several different criteria that foster secretaries put on families to enable them to become current foster home. All the family home secretary saw themselves as tools in the process to match children with foster homes, but it proved to be difficult for them to put this into words and describe how they used themselves. One of our research questions concern how experience affects their work. It turned out that the experience also gave answers to our other questions.

The purpose of this study has been to describe and analyze how former foster children experienced foster care which have been filled with maltreatment and neglect and how this has influenced their adult life when it comes to health, education and relationships. We also wanted to study how the former foster children coped with their placement. Furthermore we wanted to study whether there has been any turningpoints during their growth. Finally we wanted to describe how the former foster children experienced the authorities control. To make the purpose of this study complete we chose to use qualitative interviews with six former foster children as our research method. When we analyzed the results we used developmentalpsychopathology, sense of coherence and earlier research. Our results shows that former foster children who have been maltreated and neglected in foster care have health problems, both mental and physical, they enter adolescence with low education and they have problems with close relationships. Our results also shows that former foster children who have been in foster care for a longer timer tend to have lower Sense of coherence. Furthermore our study shows that our interviewees are satisfied with their lives today.

The purpose of this study was to examine how some child welfare case workers say they go about to give children in foster homes the opportunity to be heard. The idea was also to examine how much weight is given to the children’s views and if the respondents believe that the childrens right to be heard has improved over the time they have been working with foster children and if so, how? The study was conducted by using qualitative research method and the analysis of the results was made using Shier’s model of childrens participation. The results have also been tied to previous research in the area. The conclusions of this study was that according to the respondents it’s important that they get to know the children well so that the children can have confidence enough to speak their minds. They feel it is important that the children are listened to and the childrens views also have some influence in decision-making. The respondents also believe that the opportunities for the children to express their opinions have strengthened in recent years.

När socialtjänsten har beslutat om att ett barn behöver placeras i familjehem måste barnet få åldersadekvat information. Att förmedla information till små barn är en utmaning som ställer krav på samtalsledarens förmåga att kommunicera så att barnet förstår. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare och familjebehandlare beskriver att de förmedlar beslut om placering i familjehem till barn i förskoleålder. Sju intervjuer med anställda inom socialtjänsten har genomförts. Resultaten har analyserats utifrån salutogen teori med en utvecklingsekologisk referensram. Resultatet visar att informanterna upplever det som hjälpsamt att använda lekmaterial som hjälpmedel för att ge barnet en konkret bild av vad som kommer att hända vid placeringen. Informationen som förmedlas är situationsbunden och individuell. Informanterna belyser även att de anser det som viktigt att vara lyhörd för barnets behov för att kunna välja rätt information att trygga barnet med och på så sätt se till att det blir barnets samtal. I uppsatsens diskussionskapitel behandlas studiens oväntade fynd och förslag på fortsatt forskning. / “The conversation should be child-centred.” A qualitative study of social services informative conversations with children regarding family based foster care placements.   When placed in family based foster care, all children have legal rights to participation and to get age-appropriate information from the social services. Communicating information to young children is a challenge, and the purpose of this study was to examine how social workers and family therapists describe the procedure of informing preschoolers about placement in family based foster care. Seven interviews were conducted with employees in the social services. A salutogenic theory and a frame of reference based on the ecological systems theory of development were used to analyze the results. The results show that employees in the social services described it as helpful to use child-centred methods and to communicate with the children through play to visualise the placement and that the information provided is situational and individual. The informants highlighted the importance of being responsive to the child's needs in the very moment to choose what details to inform about, and that the child has to feel safe and the conversation needs to be child-centred.

The purpose of this study was to investigate social workers professional experiences of social services statutory responsibilities to provide advice, support and other help to foster families. Furthermore, the purpose was to analyze what factors and conditions that affects social workers ability to provide adequate support. According to both inter-national and Swedish research foster parents are asking for more support. We became curious about how foster care secretaries in Sweden give support. To get this infor-mation we had three focusgroup interviews with a total of twelve social workers. Our three focusgroups were located in municipalities in southern Sweden. The interviews were transcribed and coded for our results. The theoretical perspective we used were Urie Bronfenbrenner's theory about the ecology of human development and the perspec-tive about risk- and protection factors. The study shows that they have quite few sup-port methods to offer the foster homes and the lack of resources (time, education and economy) and vague guidelines are two factors that affects the social workers ability to provide adequate support. Although social services becomes the deputy parent of the foster child and are one protection factor in the child's life, the social services does not receive much attention in forms of for example further education.