Av olika anledningar klarar inte alla föräldrar av att tillgodose sina barns behov vilket kan påverka barnen och deras utveckling negativt. För att få barnets perspektiv på hur det är att växa upp under sådana förhållanden genomför vi denna studie med syftet att få ökad kunskap och förståelse för hur det kan vara för ett barn att växa upp i en familj där föräldrar av olika anledningar brister i sin omsorgsförmåga. Det är en litteraturstudie baserad på självbiografier där numera vuxna personer retrospektivt beskriver hur de upplevt sin barndom. Vi har använt oss av narrativ metod eftersom det ger oss möjlighet att få en fördjupad förståelse av berättarens upplevelser. Våra resultat visar att det sker en förändring av roller i familjen och att barnen får axla mycket stort ansvar hemma. De tar hand om hushållet, syskon och även sina föräldrar. De upplever rädsla på grund av det oförutsägbara agerandet från sin förälder och utanförskap, speciellt i skolmiljö. Det sociala nätverkat kan vara avgörande för att stödja dem i deras liv och ge dem en positiv utveckling, tyvärr har samhället inte full ut kunnat ge dem det stöd de behöver. / For different reasons not all parents are capable of giving their children what they need and that may have a negative effect on children´s development. In order to get the children´s perspective we carry out this study. The aim of this study was to get more knowledge and understanding of children´s experiences of growing up in a family where the parenthood is lacking, based on autobiographies where now grownups describes their experiences of childhood in a retrospective. We use a narrative method because it allows us to reach a deeper understanding of their experiences. Our result shows that there i a change in roles in the family and that these children take on a big responsibility for their family and home. They take care of basic housework, their siblings and their parents. They experience fear because of the unpredictable behavior from their parents and alienation, especially in the school environment. The social network is crucial to support them and give their life and development a positive direction, but sorry to say the society haven´t been able to give them enough help.

Previous research has indicated that intellectual disabilities and parenting is not socially accepted and compulsory care of children often occurs in families where one or both parents have an intellectual disability. This study aims to, thru a document analysis, investigate ideas and representations of parents with intellectual disabilities that emerge in Swedish legal cases. The legal cases is about children who are taken care of according to LVU § 2, where one or both parents have a intellectual disability. The results of the study revealed that people with intellectual disabilities are seen as not capable of developing parenting ability, in some cases aroused concerns about parenting during pregnancy, these suggesting stereotypes of parents with intellectual disabilities. Of the documents reveals that social workers word overrides in the decision-making, this leads to a position of power where the parents are at a disadvantage.

The aim of this study was to examine how social workers in outpatient programs fordrug and alcohol abuse explain the process of working with parenthood and theparental ability amongst clients with children. The study was conducted throughqualitative interviews with five different social workers, who worked within anoutpatient programs. The analysis was done through two different perspectives; onewith focus on the clients engagement in different social systems and one regarding theclients relationships and interaction with others. The main findings of this study arethat the outpatient programs work with parenthood is initiated through the client'sown wishes to work on certain aspects of the parent-child relationship, and indialogue with social workers and other members of the outpatient program. It wasalso discovered that children were involved in the therapeutic work to some extent,but that working with parenthood also revolved around the client being able toexpress feelings of shame and guilt, and how to overcome these feelings with the helpof the social workers and fellow outpatients.

The purpose of this study is to examine what professional social workers within the field of children and families experience the concept “good enough parent”, and how they make assessments on parental ability based on this. The term good enough is often used among social workers within the field of child protection as a form of scale in the assessment of the parental ability. The term functions as a reference to the fact that a parent does not have to achieve perfection in his or hers parenting, but being good enough is just enough to take care of a child in a favourable way. The professional social worker then must determine if the parent manage to live up to the measurement of good enough or not. The empirical material of this study is based on six qualitative, semi-structured interviews with professional social workers. Through our collected empirical material, it appears that a good enough parent should have the ability to mentalize and to enable the child to develop a secure attachment. Other than that, good enough parenting skills cannot be described based on a completed template or a checklist that the parent must fulfill in order to be considered good enough, but the meaning of a good enough parent must rather be set in relation to what the specific child needs, and how the parent is able to meet these needs. It is thus the child's need that places the bar for good enough.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur familjerättssekreterares tolkar och beaktar barnets bästa i vårdnadstvistutredningar. Studien baseras på nio kvalitativa, semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studien kommer att behandla barnets bästa, föräldraförmåga och risker för barnet. I resultatet framkommer att begreppet “barnets bästa” är svårt att definiera men att familjerättssekreterarna ser till barnets utsatta situation. Forskning och studiens resultat pekar på att barn i vårdnadstvistutredningar är i en utsatt situation och offer för föräldrars konflikt. Resultatet visar att familjerättssekreterare ser att föräldrar i en vårdnadstvist uppvisar bristande föräldraförmåga i jämförelse med föräldrar som inte är i vårdnadstvist och de kan därför inte tillgodose barnets behov av trygghet och stabilitet. I diskussionen kopplas studiens resultat samman med tidigare forskning samt systemteorin och handlingsteorin. Det visar sig att systemteorin kan ses som en utgångspunkt i familjerättssekreterares arbete även om det inte uttrycks som så. Det framkommer att familjerättssekreterare känner en frihet i sitt handlingsutrymme och att de utför målinriktade handlingar. / The study aims to investigate how family secretaries interpret and consider the child's best interests in custody investigations. The study is based on nine qualitative, semi-structured interviews. The study will address the child's best interests, parental ability and risks for the child. The result shows that the term "best interests of the child" is difficult to define, but that the family secretaries look to the child's vulnerable situation. Research and study results indicate that children in child custody disputes are in a vulnerable situation and victims of parental conflict. The result shows that family secretaries see that parents in a custody dispute show a lack of parental ability compared to parents who are not in custody disputes and therefore cannot meet the child's need for security and stability. In the discussion, the results of the study are linked to previous research as well as system theory and action theory. It turns out that the system theory can be seen as a starting point in the work of family secretaries, even if it is not expressed as such. It shows that family secretaries feel freedom in their room for maneuver and that they carry out targeted actions.

This essay aims to identify if Swedish family law workers construct parents differently based on gender in custody investigations, and if so, whether it influences the workers assessments or not. Previous studies have shown that the gender of parents play a role in how they are viewed by social services. Assessments made by the family law are fundamental for the courts’ judgement of parental ability. The possible consequences of the identified constructions of gender in the custody investigations is a social work based on simplifications and the reproduction of gender norms. The study used a qualitative approach based on a critical discourse analysis to analyze 18 custody investigations. Our conclusions show that family law workers indeed construct gender of parents differently within custody investigations. They are constructed differently within, among other things, identified attributes of the mother and father, care, violence and cooperation difficulties. The mothers were often constructed as emotionally driven. Fathers on the other hand were often constructed as authoritarian. Parental care and faulty parental care were also constructed differently between mothers and fathers. Lastly, different constructions regarding risk factors and perceptions of victims of intimate partner violence were identified. Many constructions played a part in how the parent was assessed.

Les parents d’enfants aux prises avec un trouble déficitaire de l’attention avec ou sans hyperactivité (TDA/H) sont à risque de dépression. Ces parents rapportent aussi des relations familiales plus problématiques, des expériences plus stressantes, un sentiment d’auto-efficacité plus faible à l’égard de leur rôle parental et des pratiques parentales plus coercitives ou inadéquates en comparaison aux parents d’enfants sans ce diagnostic. Plusieurs recherches ont relevé que les parents d’enfants ayant un TDA/H qui ont participé à un programme d’entraînement aux habiletés parentales (PEHP) rapportent une amélioration générale des difficultés énumérées précédemment. Le changement d’attitude et de pratiques parentales est souvent relié à une diminution des symptômes du TDA/H chez les enfants. L’intervention peut donc contribuer à améliorer la condition du parent et par le fait même celle de son enfant. Toutefois, le TDA/H est un trouble chronique qui peut affecter certaines caractéristiques personnelles du parent pouvant interférer avec la capacité de ce dernier à bénéficier d’une intervention. Peu d’études s’attardent aux caractéristiques du parent pouvant affecter l’efficacité de l’intervention. Le but de la présente étude est d’étudier le lien bidirectionnel entre certaines caractéristiques personnelles (dépression, stress, sentiment d’auto-efficacité) et les pratiques parentales dans un contexte d’intervention qui s’adresse aux parents d’enfants ayant un TDA/H. Les résultats démontrent que le sentiment d’auto-efficacité initial du parent est prédicteur d’une discipline inconstante, et ce, indépendamment de la condition expérimentale. De plus, les pratiques positives initiales sont prédicteurs d’un sentiment d’auto-efficacité élevé au post-test et ce, indépendamment de la condition expérimentale. / When compared to parents of non-diagnosed children, parents of children with ADHD face a higher risk of experiencing parenting stress, depression, and family functioning problems. They also report lower levels of parental self-efficacy, and use more coercive or inadequate parental practices. Some evidence suggests that parental abilities training programs can help offset some of the risks associated with raising a child with ADHD. Changes in attitudes and parental practices are also associated with reductions in child ADHD symptoms. Parent training interventions therefore represent promising strategies for improving both parent and child outcomes. Nevertheless, the personal characteristics of parents can intervene with their ability to benefit from parental training. Few studies have examined how parental characteristics can influence program efficacy. The objective of the present study is to examine the bidirectional link between parental characteristics (depression, stress, self-efficacy) and parental practices within the context of a parent training program. Baseline parent self-efficacy predicted use of inconsistent discipline regardless of whether parents had followed the training program. Furthermore, baseline positive parental practices predicted parent self-efficacy, regardless of experimental condition.

Les parents d’enfants aux prises avec un trouble déficitaire de l’attention avec ou sans hyperactivité (TDA/H) sont à risque de dépression. Ces parents rapportent aussi des relations familiales plus problématiques, des expériences plus stressantes, un sentiment d’auto-efficacité plus faible à l’égard de leur rôle parental et des pratiques parentales plus coercitives ou inadéquates en comparaison aux parents d’enfants sans ce diagnostic. Plusieurs recherches ont relevé que les parents d’enfants ayant un TDA/H qui ont participé à un programme d’entraînement aux habiletés parentales (PEHP) rapportent une amélioration générale des difficultés énumérées précédemment. Le changement d’attitude et de pratiques parentales est souvent relié à une diminution des symptômes du TDA/H chez les enfants. L’intervention peut donc contribuer à améliorer la condition du parent et par le fait même celle de son enfant. Toutefois, le TDA/H est un trouble chronique qui peut affecter certaines caractéristiques personnelles du parent pouvant interférer avec la capacité de ce dernier à bénéficier d’une intervention. Peu d’études s’attardent aux caractéristiques du parent pouvant affecter l’efficacité de l’intervention. Le but de la présente étude est d’étudier le lien bidirectionnel entre certaines caractéristiques personnelles (dépression, stress, sentiment d’auto-efficacité) et les pratiques parentales dans un contexte d’intervention qui s’adresse aux parents d’enfants ayant un TDA/H. Les résultats démontrent que le sentiment d’auto-efficacité initial du parent est prédicteur d’une discipline inconstante, et ce, indépendamment de la condition expérimentale. De plus, les pratiques positives initiales sont prédicteurs d’un sentiment d’auto-efficacité élevé au post-test et ce, indépendamment de la condition expérimentale. / When compared to parents of non-diagnosed children, parents of children with ADHD face a higher risk of experiencing parenting stress, depression, and family functioning problems. They also report lower levels of parental self-efficacy, and use more coercive or inadequate parental practices. Some evidence suggests that parental abilities training programs can help offset some of the risks associated with raising a child with ADHD. Changes in attitudes and parental practices are also associated with reductions in child ADHD symptoms. Parent training interventions therefore represent promising strategies for improving both parent and child outcomes. Nevertheless, the personal characteristics of parents can intervene with their ability to benefit from parental training. Few studies have examined how parental characteristics can influence program efficacy. The objective of the present study is to examine the bidirectional link between parental characteristics (depression, stress, self-efficacy) and parental practices within the context of a parent training program. Baseline parent self-efficacy predicted use of inconsistent discipline regardless of whether parents had followed the training program. Furthermore, baseline positive parental practices predicted parent self-efficacy, regardless of experimental condition.