The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how social workers participate in the operationalization of children's agency in child welfare research. In order to fulfill the purpose and answer our questions, we have used qualitative semistructured interviews. The study is based on statements from 7 social workers working whit child welfare investigation in small to medium-sized municipalities in south of Sweden. In the analysis of our collected material, we started from the sociology of childhood.  The fact that children are given the opportunity to act themselves is a prerequisite for their right to participation and influence, so that children's agency goes hand in hand with the provisions of the Social Services Act and the Children's Convention on the Influence and Participation of Children. Social security officers working on child welfare investigations should always work on the basis that it is in the best interest for the child. In order for this to be considered fulfilled in practice, the child must be able to express her/his views and wishes, and that they are important in both the investigation process and the decision making.  The result of our study shows that Social Security Officers work actively to promote children's agency and with different strategies motivate the children to actively participate. It has also been found that there are factors that complicate children's participation and, especially, influence in decision making. We found that social security officers look at their responsibility for children's rights to participation and influence as a major and important task, though with different meanings and solutions.

The purpose of this study was to understand in what ways the law of Lex Sarah contributes to quality within the Swedish social services. The legislation of Lex Sarah aims to ensure quality assurance of social services by eliminating misconduct. Operational developers are keyactors in the investigation process of Lex Sarah. Therefore a central question of this study was: In what ways does operational developers consider that Lex Sarah achieve its purpose? The method of analysis was a qualitative study. The basis of the theoretical framework of the study is social constructivism, in which institutional theory and thoughts describing how ideas are transferred and spread is a part of. The theoretical framework has been helpful to illustrate possible ways of how the idea of quality has been spread from industry to social services. The empirical material has been collected by qualitative semistructured interviews.   Central findings of the empirical material is that there was no coherent definition within the group of operational developers of the quality concept. Emphasis is mainly placed on the quality concept's commitment to legislation and user satisfaction. The term is explained in broad terms and no detailed description is given. Lex Sarah is described as an alarm system and the empirical material also shows oppon it’s controlling functions. Through the empirical material it is also shown that the measures proposed by the operational developers not necessarily lead to improvement or quality of the operations. One explenation highlighted is the gap between investigation and the enforcement. A central discovery is also based on the lack of user influence within the Lex Sarah-process.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the social services work with honor-related violence and oppression, and how action plans are implemented into the work. Honor-related violence and oppression is a relatively new problem in Sweden and for a long time, the social services have lacked strategies for how the problem should be handled. Evaluations of the social services have shown that several municipalities in Sweden lack specific action plans against honor-related violence and oppression, as well as routines and guidelines for their work in this area. This study is based on qualitative interviews with five professional social workers from different municipalities. Through the interviews, each social worker’s view on the work of honor-related violence and oppression and the importance of the action plan have been highlighted. The results showed that the social workers described their work in a similar way but their view on the importance of an action plan differed. Based on the results of the study, our conclusion was that action plans can be a solid ground that creates a unified structure for the social services, and are therefore important in the work against honor-related violence and oppression. / Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur socialtjänsten arbetar med hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck samt hur handlingsplaner är implementerade i arbetet. Hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck är ett relativt nytt problem i Sverige och socialtjänsten har under lång tid saknat strategier för hur arbetet med problematiken ska genomföras. Utvärderingar av socialtjänstens arbete har visat att flera av landets kommuner saknar specifika handlingsplaner mot hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck samt rutiner och riktlinjer att arbeta efter. I studien har kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts med fem socialsekreterare från olika kommuner. Genom intervjuerna har socialsekreterarnas syn på arbetet med hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck och handlingsplanens betydelse belysts. Resultat visade att socialsekreterarna beskrev arbetet på liknande sätt medan synen på betydelsen av en handlingsplan skiljde sig åt. Utifrån studiens resultat blev vår slutsats att handlingsplaner kan vara en grund som skapar enhetlig struktur för socialtjänsten och därmed är viktiga i arbetet mot hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to look into how social secretaries describe their work with children's participation in the assessment that is carried out at short-term residential facilities for families. Through their descriptions we can gain knowledge of what significance these social workers give children's participation in this context and create more nuances in the overall view on children's participation in Swedish child services. Built in this purpose, we have been interested in how the institutional circumstances can affect children's participation. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with seven social secretaries working in three different facilities for families in two Swedish municipalities. Based on our theoretical assumptions, which are Shier’s pathway to participation (2001) and the interpretation that Svensson, Johnsson and Laanemets (2008) made of Michael Lipsky's (1980/2010) concept of discretion, the interviews have been interpreted and analysed. We have anchored the essay's analysis framework in a social-constructivist approach.  Our results show that the social secretaries places great emphasis on children's participation throughout the assessment process. The work is carried out in an incorporated way where the approach is characterized by seeing the child as an active part and a main person who has the right to participation in ways that works for that specific child. The descriptions show the individual secretaries' ability for child-friendly adaptation in working methods, as well as a shared responsibility for competence development. Experience are referred to as important, as well as reflection on the personal factors that can limit the work. In the result, we can see that a problematic theme lies in the interaction between the social secretary, the parents and the children. The family is in a difficult situation, often enlarged by the intervention in the family's life that moving to the facility entails. How well the collaboration works depends on the possibility to communicate and create relationships built on trust, which directly affects the degree of the child's participation. The result also contains recurring descriptions of how the social secretary decides when the child should be protected from burdensome details, mainly concerning the parents, which can also be regarded as a limiting factor.  Conclusions we have drawn are that children's participation has a central position in these organisations, seen as an indisputable right for all children regardless of age and ability. The discretion of the social secretaries is not limited by organizational factors such as heavy workload or lack of time. It is mainly collaboration difficulties with the family that affect children's participation. However, frequent contact with the family during the long assessment period at the facility create good basis for cooperation, as well as the high degree of transparency and openness that permeates the assessment work according to the social secretaries. Success in relationship-building becomes crucial to children's participation, especially as the path to the child often goes through the parent.

Detta är en kvalitativ studie om hur socialsekreterare arbetar med barnperspektivet i mötet med hemlösa barn. Genom fyra semi-strukturerade intervjuer med anställda på socialtjänstens boendeenhet undersöks hur handläggaren beskriver att hen arbetar med barnperspektivet utifrån delvis Barnkonventionen men även hur handläggaren tillgodoser barns rättigheter och medborgarskap. Det insamlade materialet kommer analyseras med hjälp av Theory of citizenship (Lister 2008) men även barndomssociologiska begrepp human being och human becoming samt agency (Qvortrup 1990; Lee 2001). Som ett komplement används Annika Staafs (2011) definition av rättssäkerhet för att utöka förståelsen för barns medborgarskap och rättssäkerhet. Resultatet visar på bristande arbete med barns rättigheter samt att organisationens struktur har betydelse för vilka möjligheter handläggaren har att tillgodose barns rättigheter och säkra barns medborgarskap. I den avslutande diskussionen tas upp att socialsekreterarnas arbetsmiljö leder till att barn inte får komma till tals i den utsträckning som anses vara nödvändigt samt att en väg framåt i arbetet med barns rättigheter vore att Barnkonventionen blir svensk lag. Detta skulle medföra att Konventionen om barns rättigheter får en starkare ställning i Sverige. / This is a qualitative study of how social workers work with the children's perspective in the meeting with homeless children. This will be investigated through four semi-structured interviews with employees at the social housing unit. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the practitioner describes how they work with the child perspective based partly on the Children's Convention, but also investigate how the prosecutor caters for children's rights and citizenship. The collected material will be analysed using Theory of citizenship (Lister 2008), but also childhood sociological concepts human being and human becoming as well as agency (Qvortrup 1990; Lee 2001). As a complement, Annika Staaf's (2011) definition of legal certainty is used to expand the understanding of children's citizenship and legal certainty. The result shows the lack of work with children's rights, and the structure of the organization is important for the ability of the prosecutor to meet children's rights and secure children's citizenship. In the final discussion it is stated that the social security staff's working environment means that children can not be heard in so far as is considered necessary, and that a way forward in the work on children's rights would be that the Children's Convention becomes Swedish law. This would mean that the Convention on the Rights of the Child gained a stronger position in Sweden.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka socialsekreterares erfarenheter av att neka ekonomiskt bistånd. Tre frågeställningar formulerades: Hur påverkas socialsekreterare känslomässigt av att neka ekonomiskt bistånd? Hur upplever socialsekreterarna att klienterna reagerar i samband med ett avslag? Finns det andra faktorer som påverkar socialsekreterarnas erfarenheter av att ge avslag? Fem intervjuer genomfördes med socialsekreterare på fyra olika kommuner i Skåne. Resultatet visade att ett avslagsbeslut inte påverkade socialsekreteraren negativt i någon större utsträckning. Även om majoriteten av informanterna uttryckte att det ibland kunde kännas jobbigt att ge ett avslag fanns det coping- strategier och arbetssätt som underlättade i arbetet med avslag. En känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) kunde identifieras som en underlättande faktor. Klienterna kunde ibland bli arga och inte förstå beslutet men de kunde också bli mer motiverade. Faktorer som ramlag, kollegor och yrkeskunskap spelade stor i arbetet. Att ha en tydligt distans till klienten, tilltro till klientens förmåga att förändra sin situation och att det är individen som har ansvar för sin situation underlättade i arbetet med avslag. Ett avslag kan således betyda mer än bara ett ”nej, du har inte rätt till bistånd.” / The aim of this study was to look into social workers experiences on rejecting financial assistance. Three questions were to be answered: In what way are the social workers emotionally affected by rejecting financial assistance? How do the social workers experience the clients reactions when getting a rejection on financial assistance? Are there any other factors affecting the social workers experiences on rejecting financial assistance? Five interviews were conducted with social workers from five different municipalities in Skåne, Sweden. The result showed that rejecting financial assistance did not affect the social workers negatively in a significant manor. Even though the majority of the informants sometimes expressed some level of awkwardness while rejecting finical assistance, there were coping strategies and methods that favored the rejection process. Clients could sometimes become angry, not understanding why the application was rejected but they could also become more motivated. Factors like framework, colleagues and knowledge of the profession played a big part in the daily work. A sense of coherence was also found to be a stress relieving factor. The rejection process was made easier by having a clear emotional distance to the client, a faith in the clients own abilities to change hir situation and also knowing that it is the individual that has full responsibility of hir situation. A rejection can therefore be viewed as something more than just ”no, you’re not entitled the right to receive financial assistance.”

Recently there has been an increase of reports of concern to the Swedish social services regarding juvenile delinquency. Early interventions for these juveniles can contribute to a reduced risk of more serious problems in the future. The purpose of this study was to examine the preventive work within the social services and how social workers perceive enabling and limiting factors in the preventive social work with juvenile delinquency. The study is based on seven interviews with social workers from four Swedish municipalities. The results of our study showed that the social workers perceived their role in prevention work differently. It also showed that the characteristics and approaches that the social workers emphasized as the most important to create trust varied among them. More factors were perceived as limiting rather than enabling. Many of the limiting factors were beyond the control of the social workers, such as the municipality’s budget or deficient cooperation with other authorities (for example the police). This study has contributed to more knowledge about preventive work from the perspective of professionals.

The purpose of this study is to examine how supervisors within individual and family care handle the area for burnout among social workers. The study also examined supervisors view on the psychosocial environment and its significance for burn-out. In this qualitative study, interviews were conducted with 7 professionals supervisor. The result show that supervisors within individual and family care have experience of burn-out among social workers. All informants point out that the occurrence of burn-out looks different for different individuals who are affected. The result also show, based on the informant’s responses, that the psychosocial work environment in the workplace has a connection with the mental illness of the employee and that in combination with each other, affect the individual's well-being. The majority of informants illustrate various challenges regarding these areas, including privacy life versus professional life in the occurrence of burn-out. The result of the study show that there is a need for more research on the subject. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur chefer inom individ- och familjeomsorg hanterar området för utmattningssyndrom bland socialsekreterare. Studien undersökte även chefers syn på den psykosociala arbetsmiljön och dess betydelse för utmattningssyndrom på arbetsplatsen. Till studien valdes en kvalitativ ansats där sju stycken yrkesverksamma chefer intervjuades. Resultatet visar att chefer inom individ-och familjeomsorg har erfarenheter av utmattningssyndrom bland socialsekreterare. Samtliga informanter pekar på att uppkomsten av utmattningssyndrom ser olika ut för olika individer som drabbas. Resultatet visar också, utifrån informanternas upplevelser, att den psykosociala arbetsmiljön på arbetsplatsen har ett samband med psykisk ohälsa hos medarbetaren och att dessa i kombination med varandra påverkar individens mående. Majoriteten av informanterna belyser olika utmaningar gällande dessa områden, däribland privatliv kontra yrkesliv i uppkomsten av utmattningssyndrom. Resultatet av studien visar att det finns ett behov av mer forskning kring ämnet.

Syftet med studien är att på en kommunal nivå undersöka hur arbetet och kompetensen kring hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck ser ut inom socialtjänsten. Fokus är på socialarbetares upplevelser och resonemang kring hedersrelaterat våld. Studien har en kvalitativ forskningsansats och syftet har uppnåtts genom semistrukturerade telefonintervjuer med socialarbetare i 15 kommuner, fördelat på två län. Den insamlade datan har analyserats med hjälp av tematisk analys. Intervjudeltagarnas uttalanden har tolkats med hjälp av Michael Lispkys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrati och handlingsutrymme samt med begrepp som kulturessentialism och postkolonial teori.  Resultatet visar på att det finns särskild kompetens om hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck inom de flesta kommuner men att den ofta är knuten till enskilda handläggare. Det har även framkommit hur viktigt kunskap är för att identifiera och ge rätt stöd i hedersrelaterade ärenden. Gemensamt för de insatser som erbjuds offer, familj och förövare är att få av dem är anpassade för hedersproblematik. De insatser som erbjuds utsatta individer tycks tillgodose deras behov av skydd men tvingar också individen att genomgå stora uppoffringar, därmed finns ett behov av att utveckla och förbättra dessa insatser. Vidare framgår att det finns delade meningar om vad hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck antas bero på samt inom vilka familjer det förekommer. Vissa uttrycker att hedersrelaterat våld endast förekommer inom vissa kulturer och grupper, medan andra menar att så inte är fallet. / The purpose of the following study is to examine how the work is organized on a municipal level and what expertise social workers in different municipalities have about honor-related violence. The focus is on social workers experiences and reasoning about honor-related violence. The study has a qualitative research approach, and the purpose has been achieved by doing semi-structured interviews per telephone with social workers from 15 municipalities, divided into two regions. The collected data has been analyzed through a thematic analysis. The statements of the study participants have been interpreted with help from Michael Lipsky's theory about street-level bureaucracy and discretion and also by the terms culture essentialism and postcolonial theory.  The results show that in most of the municipalities the social workers have special skills about honor-related violence, though the skills are often directly linked to individual employees in the organization. It has also emerged how important knowledge is to be able to identify and to give the right support in honor-related cases. Common for the interventions social services are offering victims, families and perpetrators is that few of them are adjusted for honor-related issues. The interventions that are offered to victims seems to meet their needs of shelter although it comes with great personal sacrifices, therefore there is a need to develop and improve the interventions. Further there are split opinions about what the causes for honor-related violence are and within which groups it occurs. Some of the participants expresses that honor-related violence only occurs in certain cultures and groups, while other claims the opposite.

Previous research show that there is a knowledge cap in investigations on how social workers are supposed to interpret the nursing needs for children, in which the parent who has custody of the child is responsible for. The same knowledge cap is shown in how ”child's best” is supposed to be interpreted by social workers and be a red thread in the investigations. Which also leads to help interventions being given to children when the parent does not fulfill the nursing needs of the child, which is always not clear. Therefore the purpose of the study was to understand how social services interpret the nursing needs and shed light on how social workers interpret the ”child’s best” and how they work with children when the parents do not fulfill the nursing needs. Therefore in this study 8 interviews have been executed with social workers from different county’s around Sweden. The result shows that the interpretation of nursing needs for children is interpreted by the working model BBIC and that children should feel safe and not be at risk of getting hurt. The ”child’s best” means from the perspective of social workers shows that what is best for the child is to stay with the biological parents and that they are stable and emotionally available. The social workers work with children through family therapy, since focus is on helping the whole family. Help interventions are rarely only given to children alone, unless the child is over 15 years of age.