Author: Moa di Zazzo Eilertsen Title: “Children should not grow up like that. They may turn out the same”: Social workers, working with foster care investigations, reasoning about family and family structures of foster homes. [translated title] Supervisor: Annika Staaf Assessor: Norma Montesino There has been a change in family structure which shows that the nuclear family, which is still the main form of family pattern, is becoming less frequent nowadays. Same-sex couple families, single parent families and reshaped families are some of the family forms which are becoming more common in modern society. Some argue that, despite these changes, most people still consider the nuclear family as the norm and the ideal. The aim of this study was to understand how social workers, working with foster care investegations within the Swedish social sevice, reason about family structures in spring 2009. I wanted to understand how these social workers view family, and different forms of family patterns, in the context of foster homes. Does their reasoning reflect the new family structures or the traditional nuclear family? My theoretical approaches of choice were the theory of social constructions, the queer theory term heteronormativity and Hirdmans gender theory about the gender contract. The method I used was qualitative and consisted of five semi-structured interviews carried out with five social workers in three different Swedish communities. The results I came up with illustrated that the interviewed social workers mostly considered the presence of siblings in a family constitution to be a positive factor. All of the interviewed social workers said they believe it is important to have a father- and a mother figure while growing up. The results also showed that, even though the social workers defined the term family as wide and including different kinds of possible family constellations, heteronormative values were thoroughly expressed and the nuclear family was idealized by the social workers regarding foster care and children’s needs.     Key words: Family structure, family ideal, foster care investegation, social service.

<p> </p><p> </p><p>Author: Moa di Zazzo Eilertsen</p><p>Title: “Children should not grow up like that. They may turn out the same”: Social workers, working with foster care investigations, reasoning about family and family structures of foster homes. [translated title]</p><p>Supervisor: Annika Staaf</p><p>Assessor: Norma Montesino<strong></strong></p><p>There has been a change in family structure which shows that the nuclear family, which is still the main form of family pattern, is becoming less frequent nowadays. Same-sex couple families, single parent families and reshaped families are some of the family forms which are becoming more common in modern society. Some argue that, despite these changes, most people still consider the nuclear family as the norm and the ideal. The aim of this study was to understand how social workers, working with foster care investegations within the Swedish social sevice, reason about family structures in spring 2009. I wanted to understand how these social workers view family, and different forms of family patterns, in the context of foster homes. Does their reasoning reflect the new family structures or the traditional nuclear family? My theoretical approaches of choice were the <em>theory of social constructions</em>, the queer theory term <em>heteronormativity </em>and Hirdmans gender theory about the <em>gender contract</em>. The method I used was qualitative and consisted of five semi-structured interviews carried out with five social workers in three different Swedish communities. The results I came up with illustrated that the interviewed social workers mostly considered the presence of siblings in a family constitution to be a positive factor. All of the interviewed social workers said they believe it is important to have a father- and a mother figure while growing up. The results also showed that, even though the social workers defined the term <em>family</em> as wide and including different kinds of possible family constellations, heteronormative values were thoroughly expressed and the nuclear family was idealized by the social workers regarding foster care and children’s needs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Key words<strong>: </strong>Family structure, family ideal, foster care investegation, social service.</p>

Syftet med detta självständiga arbete är att undersöka hur etnicitet tillskrivs betydelse i utredningar avfamiljehem. Vidare vill vi undersöka hur familjehemssekreterarna beskriver sitt handlingsutrymme iutredningsarbetet. Syftet har besvarats med följande frågeställningar; (1) Hur aktualiseras etnicitet vidutredningar av familjehem? (2) Hur beskriver familjehemssekreterare sina erfarenheter avutredningsarbete av familjer med annan etnisk bakgrund än svensk? (3) Vilka utmaningar uppkommervid utredningar av familjer med en annan etnisk bakgrund än svensk? Socialstyrelsen anser att det finnsförbättringsåtgärder i familjehemsutredningar, främst gällande likvärdiga utredningsmodeller, men ävengällande den kompetensbrist som finns i socialt arbete vid bemötandet av utrikesfödda. I Sverige saknastidigare forskning kring familjehemsutredningar och etnicitet, det finns viss internationell forskning somfrämst utgår från adoption. De teoretiska utgångspunkter vi använt oss av är socialkonstruktionism,etnicitet som teoretiskt begrepp samt gräsrotsbyråkrati. Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ studie medsemistrukturerade intervjuer och intervjuat sex familjehemssekreterare och en enhetschef. När vianalyserade materialet kom vi slutligen fram till tre empiriska kategorier; Att behandla alla lika iutredningarna, idealfamilj samt utredningsdilemman. Resultatet visar att etnicitet aktualiseras tidigt iutredningsskedet när familjehemssekreterarna kategoriserar att familjen har en annan etnisk bakgrundän svensk. Efterföljande utredning skiljer sig från en utredning genomförd på en svensk familj, vid dessautredningar används en annan utredningsmodell. Familjehemssekreterarna beskriver och använder sitthandlingsutrymme på olika sätt vilket innebär att det skiljer sig mellan familjehemssekreterarnasutredningar av utrikesfödda familjer. De utmaningar som familjehemssekreterarna står inför ärframförallt likabehandling där organisationen säger att de ska behandla alla lika, medan familjernaförutsätter att de utreds efter sina individuella förutsättningar. En annan svårighet gällernätverksplaceringar där barnets anknytning väger tyngre än nätverkshemmets brister. Detta kan i vissafall bidra till en intressekrock mellan barnhandläggare och familjehemssekreterare därfamiljehemssekreterare får fatta beslut som strider mot riktlinjerna för när en familj ska bli godkänd.