The Swedish child welfare system allows a possibility to place children in out-of-home-care. In 2016 a new form of placement was introduced: supported housing [stödboende]. The main purpose of a placement in supported housing is to prepare the residents – young people between the ages of 16 and 20 – for an independent life and living. Unaccompanied youths constitutes a category of service-users that has become relevant for placement in supported housing due to the assumption that they are in need of support-oriented rather that treatment- and care-oriented services. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to analyse how supported housing units for unaccompanied youths are organised and how the staff describe working to ensure the independence of the youths. To meet the purpose of the study, supported housing units in three Swedish municipalities have been studied through a total of 15 semi-structured interviews with section managers, unit managers, coordinators and staff. Supported housing for unaccompanied youths has been studied as an organisational idea which has been received and adopted in the municipalities. To understand how external pressure and internal processes influence the units and the work, an organisational perspective has been applied on the empirical material, through new institutionalism and Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracies. From Said’s theory of orientalism the construction of “the other” is used as a complement to also understand how different constructions of residents and work with independency are expressed. The results of the study indicates that the organisation of the units and the work within them are highly affected by external factors, such as reduced economical resources and the situation in which many of the placed youths are still awaiting decisions on their asylum applications due to long processing times at the Swedish Migration Agency. This leads to great challenges both in terms of organisation and work. To meet the needs of the situation informal adjustments of routines and work are often made by both managers and staff. Concerning the work with independency, a division of three becomes visible: practical, societal and emotional/social independency. How the work is conducted seems to be influenced not only by the discretion of the staff, but also by whether or not the youths have received a residential permit. An important conclusion is the emergence of a construction of the “ideal” supported housing unit, where the placed youths can practice on standing on their own two feet in a safe environment. However there is also a parallel construction of “reality”, where challenges beyond the control of the staff and managers highly affect the units and the organisation of the work, including economical resources, the Swedish asylum politics, other social service actors, as well as the mental health of the placed youths.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur personal på ideella respektive kommunala skyddade boenden för våldsutsatta kvinnor upplever verksamhetens möjligheter och begränsningar samt hur de upplever samverkan. Studien har en kvalitativ metod där det har genomförts åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra personal från två ideella boenden och fyra personal från två kommunala boenden. En kartläggning från Socialstyrelsen (2013) visar att det år 2013 var 71 % av Sveriges skyddade boenden som bedrevs i ideell regi och 21 % som bedrevs i kommunal regi. Det framgick även att dessa boenden hade olika förutsättningar för att hjälpa kvinnorna vilket även framkom i tidigare forskning. I studiens resultat framkom det att personal från de ideella skyddade boendena i högre utsträckning upplevde att de hade en frihet att utforma sitt arbete och att ge kvinnorna ett socialt sammanhang men att de kunde vara begränsade av kortsiktiga avtal med kommunen. Personal från de kommunala boendena upplevde i högre utsträckning en trygghet i arbetet, dock kunde de uppleva begränsningar i att beslutsprocesser var ineffektiva samt att de inte kunde utforma det egna arbetet i samma utsträckning. Personal från de kommunala boendena upplevde sig ha bättre förutsättningar för samverkan än personal från de ideella boendena, samtliga intervjupersoner upplevde dock vissa begränsningar i samverkan. / The purpose of this study is to examine how the staff of non-profit and municipal sheltered housings experience the opportunities and limitations of the organisations as well as how they experience cooperation. The study has a qualitative method in which eight semistructured interviews were conducted with four employees from two non-profit sheltered housing and four employees from two municipal sheltered housing. A survey from the National board of health and welfare (2013) shows that in the year of 2013 71 % of Sweden's sheltered housing were non-profit and 21 % were municipal sheltered housing. These sheltered housings had different conditions in helping battered women, as shown by previous research. The results of this study show that the staff from the non-profit sheltered housing to a greater extent experienced that they were free in designing their work and giving the women a social context but could be limited in short-term agreements with the municipality. Staff from the municipal sheltered housing felt safer with the organisational form however they could experience limitations regarding that the decision-making process were ineffective and that they could not design their own work to the same extent. Staff from the municipal sheltered housing to a greater extent experienced that they had good conditions for cooperation, however all of the interviewees experienced some limitations regarding cooperation.

The purpose of this study is to highlight the work of asylum case- and executive officers at the Swedish Migration Agency. It focuses on the oral investigation that is conducted by the Swedish Migration Agency with an asylum seeker in Sweden, how the case- and executive officers assess if an asylum seeker is credible, and if there are any difficulties with this process. The aim of this study has not been to investigate how the credibility and reliability assessments should be conducted; instead, it has been to understand the complexity of these assessment and how the case- and executive officers experience the same. The study is ethnographic, and the empirical material consists of interviews with individuals who work as case- and executive officers at the Migration Agency's asylum units in Sweden. The study has a qualitative approach since the interest lies in individual experiences. The analysis is based on extracts from the interviews and is linked to existing research and theories. Theoretically, the thesis is inspired by Michael Lipsky's concept of street-level bureaucracy. In addition, we have also built up a theoretical chapter presenting the legal framework. The study shows that the assessment of an asylum seeker is a complicated and abstract process. And in the end, it all comes down to an overall assessment.

The purpose of this study was to better understand howLSS-officials within several swedish municipalities understand and handles their discretion in regard to children and guardians who has a certain form of physical or mental disability. If or how those LSS-officials shape the services they are responsible for to help the families as a whole with their parental abilities. We will try to illustrate how the LSS-officials reflects upon the guardians ability to care for their children and how they assess the services they are able to provide in relation to those children and guardians needs. We have used qualitative method and semi-structured interviews in the study. To help analyze our material we have used Michael Lipsky’s theory about street-level bureaucracy as well as Roine Johansson’s criticism and attempt to refine the theory. Our results showed us that the LSS-officials we interviewed have varying discretion in their work with children and guardians with disabilities due to the swedish law that supports services for disability. Moreover we found that the LSS-officialshad trouble understanding how some available services could function in regards to different forms of disability. We also found that they sought different services such as parental guidance for the parents in their homes to improve the work with the children and guardians.

El Programa Nacional de Alimentación Escolar Qali Warma fue creado como una mejor alternativa al anterior programa, cerrado en medio del escándalo y la deslegitimación. Sin embargo, desde su implementación, Qali Warma ha sido fuente de escándalos mediáticos constantes, así como de propuestas de mejora y cambio. Esta investigación se acerca a su implementación desde los espacios de monitoreo de las escuelas, para comprender las lógicas políticas y tecnocráticas dentro del programa y analizar las tensiones producidas por ellas durante las actividades de monitoreo. También analizamos las posibilidades de acción de los monitores a través de la comparación de su trabajo en dos regiones muy diferentes de Perú: Lambayeque y Junín. Finalmente, proponemos un nuevo enfoque para pensar la implementación de programas sociales y el monitoreo en estos.

Immigration is arguably among the most divisive global and national issues at present. In the U.S., undocumented persons (the DREAMers) who arrived to the U.S. as children have been the central focus of legislation and debate. As of 2013, the undocumented population has increased from less than a million in 1980, then reaching 12.2 million in 2006, to an estimated population of 11.3 million (Passel, Cohn, Krogstand, & Gonzalez-Barerra, 2014) just a few short years ago. For the numerous undocumented students who have excelled academically and socially, and make positive contributions to their communities, the goal of obtaining a college degree is naturally the next step after high school. While undocumented students face intractable challenges in the areas of residency/citizenship, the college admission process, and financing their education, many still find their way on college campuses seeking degree completion. Academic advisors are uniquely positioned to support the persistence and graduation of students, especially undocumented students. Therefore, this research examined perspectives and behaviors of advisors concerning their interactions with undocumented students in public universities utilizing the framework of Michael Lipsky’s (1980) understanding of street-level bureaucracy to determine the discretionary behaviors exercised by academic advisors who advise undocumented students. Study participants included college advisors located in the middle southern and western regions of the United States, where undocumented populations are highest. A qualitative methodology with a case study research design was used in this phenomenological guided research to determine two major study findings: (a) academic advisors are exercising discretionary behavior in advising undocumented students and general population students and (b) the academic advising needs of undocumented students differ from other students. This study has contributed to public administration and higher education advising literature by providing insight into how advisors understand their roles, implement policy, and participate in divergence to meet the needs of students.

Sverige nådde år 2015 en ny toppnotering vad gäller antal asylsökande. Detta förde med sig stora utmaningar för delar av socialtjänsten i relation till placering av ensamkommande barn och en snabbt stigande kostnadsutveckling för platser på asylboenden. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka konsekvenserna av vad som sker när boendeformen för de asylsökande förändras. Undersökningen tar sin utgångspunkt i hur behandlingsassistenterna på ett kommunalt stödboende ser på sitt arbetet med ensamkommande ungdomar och hur de upplever sina möjligheter att hjälpa dem integreras i det svenska samhället. Studiens empiriska material består av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med behandlingsassistenter som är verksamma på ett stödboende i Stockholm. Analyserna tar sin begreppsliga utgångspunkt i Michael Lipskys (1980/2010) teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater samt Ludvig Beckmans (2011) integrationsteori. Resultatet visar att behandlingsassistenterna tenderar att fokusera på allmän kunskap kring samhällsinstitutioner, språk och relationer som viktiga faktorer man försökte forma sitt arbete kring. Samtidigt upplever behandlingsassistenterna en konflikt mellan vad man kunde göra och vad man upplever att de ensamkommande ungdomarna behöver. Studien visar bland annat på utmaningar i inkluderandet av boendepersonal och kommuner i beslutandet kring olika policyn givet det extraordinära sammanhang landet befinner sig i. / At the end of the year 2015, Sweden peaked in regards to asylum-seeking refugees. Concequently, parts of the social service would face numerous challenges in regards to the placement of unaccompanied minors in out-of home care and in rising costs for asylum accommodation for unaccompanied minors. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the consequences of what happens when the asylum housing for unaccompanied minors changes. This thesis takes its starting point in how treatment assistants at a municipal support housing view integration in regards to their work with unaccompanied minors. The empirical basis for this study consists of six semi-structured interviews with treatment assistants at a municipal support housing in Stockholm. The analysis takes its conceptual basis in Michael Lipsky's (1980/2010) theory of street-level bureaucrats and Ludvig Beckman's (2011) integration- theory. The results showed that treatment assistants tend to focus on general knowledge about societal institutions, language and relationships as important factors that they attempted to shape their work around. At the same time, the treatment assistants experience a conflict between what they can do and what they perceived that the unaccompanied minor needs. The study shows i.a. the challenges in including housing staff and municipalities on the forming and decision-making off public policies in extraordinary situations.

The aim of this study is to examine and deepen the knowledge of how socialworkers within social services unit of children experienced their own requisites to work with disabled children in relation to the organisations requisites. The study emenated from the questions  ”How does the socialworkers experience the organizational possibilities to work with disabled children? ” and “What organizational factors does the socialworkers think affects their work with disabled children? ”. Method: We have used a hermeneutic perspective and qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews with socialworkers within social services unit of children twas used to collect data. Theory: Our theoretical point have been Lipskys theory about the street-level bureaucrat. In this theory we used the concepts of the problem of resources, pressure of time and discretion have mainly been used as tools in the analyze.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how kindergarten teachers look at their obligation to report and the possibilities and obstacles they see in reporting a child they think might be a victim of maltreatment. This study has a qualitative approach and six interviews were conducted with the help of both managers of kindergartens and kindergarten teachers. To analyse the empirical data that revealed itself during the interviews we used Johanssons (2007) and Svensson, Johnsson och Laanemets (2008) definition of discretion and the concept of “street level-bureaucrats”. The result showed that our informants experienced the meeting with children who they suspect is being maltreated is important and emotional and they thought that they had a moral responsibility towards these children. It also showed that the relationship the teachers had with the children's parents made a difference in how to act about reporting or not. Its also showed that the workplace itself and the knowledge and experience you have could interfere with reporting. In conclusion we think that more studies should be done in this area and that more knowledge about this should be included in education, which our informants also agreed on.

A few weeks before the Swedish election in September 2018, a young girl named Greta Thunberg decidedto leave school every Friday and instead sit outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm to raise awarenessabout the climate. This “school strike for climate” has since then developed to be a world-wide phenomenonand on the 15th of March more than 1.4 million youngsters participated in more than 100 countries.However, these actions have been subject of lots of debate in media; Greta being both cherished andcriticized. Framed within the questions about what motivates the political participation and in what way theschool takes a stand, this thesis aims to analyze “school strike for climate” in relation to the role of bothknowledge and fostering in the Swedish school. Through theories of street-level bureaucracy and politicalparticipation, accompanied by Carol Bacchis discourse perspective what´s the problem represented to be the studyexamines 32 Swedish newspaper articles. The result is a variety of problem representations, getting legitimized through law or moral, but also through a representation which hold both school and the pupils responsible for result in school. One of thedevelopments in the discourse is that during time and enlarging of the political activism, the youngster’sactions more and more is characterized as political participation than of an individual choice. This alsomeans that schools have to take a stand up on an organizational level, where many principals refer to schoolattendance and the law. When political activism is legislated through the curriculum it seems to be adidactical choice by the teachers, whom within their free space as professional street-level bureaucrats mayhave varying opportunities to use the theme within their teaching. Over all, the discourse focus more uponthe climate than democratic ideals, which suggests an unused potential of “school strike for climate” incivic´s education.