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.

Den föreliggande studien syftar till att undersöka hur socialsekreterare inomsektionen barn och familj, enheten för ekonomiskt bistånd upplever följandeaspekter: bemötandet i sig och dess betydelse samt vikten av bemötandet irelationsskapande och samarbete. Vidare syftar studien även till att undersöka ifallbemötandet är något som skiljer sig åt beroende på klient samt vilkaföreställningar det finns om hur ett gott bemötande skapas. Denna studie grundarsig på en kvalitativ ansats där vi i analys och resultat presenterar information somhar inhämtats från totalt 6 semistrukturerade intervjuer. I analysen tolkas deninhämtade informationen utifrån pliktetik, situationsetik och Michael Lipskysteori om vad som definierar en gräsrotsbyråkrat. Resultatet visar på skildaupplevelser kring vad ett gott bemötande är med en framträdande och gemensamupplevelse om att bemötande är något individuellt, och därför bör bemötandetäven anpassas utefter varje klient, situation och ärende. Utgångspunkten ärdäremot att alla klienter skall bemötas med respekt och stå lika inför lag. I studienobserveras även olika föreställningar om hur ett gott bemötande skapas, vilketyttrar sig som olika aspekter som underlättar för att socialsekreteraren skall kunnage ett gott bemötande: erfarenhet, kompetens, en / The aim of this study is to examine how social secretaries in the child and familysection, unit of economic assistance, experience the following aspects of treatmenttoward clients: the concept itself and its meaning in relationships and cooperation.Furthermore the study also aim to examine if the treatment varies on account ofthe client and what concepts there are as to what generates a good treatment. Thisstudy is based on a qualitative approach where the information has been gatheredfrom six semi-structured interviews. The information has been interpreted andanalyzed on the basis of duty ethics, situational ethics and Michael Lipsky’stheory of what defines a street-level bureaucrat. The results shows differentexperiences on what a good treatment is, the most prominent and commonexperience is that treatment is something individual and therefore all clientsshould be treated accordingly. However, the main point is that every client shouldbe treated with respect and stand equally under the law. The study also showsdifferent conceptions on how a good treatment is created and these are:experience, competence, a good relationship and an effective cooperation betweenthe social secretary and the client.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur arbetsmarknadssekreterare och socialsekreterare inom socialtjänsten Väster i Malmö upplever pilotprojektet Tidig inskrivning samt hur deras handlingsutrymme och inbördes samverkan förändrats i projektet. Syftet med projektet är att förkorta vägen mot självförsörjning och skapa en tidig planering för klienten. Projektet riktas mot de klienter som erhåller ekonomiskt bistånd. Pilotprojektet implementerades den åttonde januari 2018 och skall avslutas den 30 juni 2018. Vi undersöker således hur projektet erfars av arbetsmarknadssekreterare och socialsekreterare angående projektet och dess implementering samt hur informanterna upplever att pilotprojektet påverkat deras handlingsutrymme och inbördes samverkan. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna för uppsatsens är ett instrumentellt organisationsteoretiskt perspektiv samt Michael Lipskys teori angående street-level bureaucracy. Använd metod för denna uppsats är en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Vi har intervjuat tre arbetsmarknadssekreterare och tre socialsekreterare som arbetar med projektet. Vi fann i det empiriska materialet att informanterna upplevde implementeringen som vag och ytterst lite information gavs till arbetsmarknadssekreterarna och socialsekreterarna angående hur projektet skulle förändra deras arbetsgång. Informanterna upplevde även en frustration både hos kollegor, de själva och klienten i ärendegången i projektet. Informanternas handlingsutrymme och inbördes samverkan har förändrats i projektet då resurs-och tidsbrist skapat förändringar i både samverkan och handlingsutrymme för de båda professionerna. / The aim of this bachelor essay is to examine the experience of the social workers in the project pilot called the “Tidig inskrivning”, meaning early enrollment. The aim of this project is to plan the enrolment towars the regular labour market. The project pilot launched in 8th of January and ended in 30th of June in 2018. The involved professions in the project on a daily basis is labour secretaries and social secretaries. The issues concerning our essay is: How does the labour secretaries and social secretaries experience the project pilot and how do the informants experience that the Early Enrollment pilot project has influenced their leeway and mutual cooperation?The theoretical premise for this essay is an instrumental organization theory and Michael Lipsky’s theory concerning street-level-bureaucracy. The method used in this essay was a qualitive method using a semi structured interview. The project pilot is directed to all clients that applies for a social assistance. These clients are the called to a meeting with the labour secretaries to a survey including the clients past work experiences and education. The client is then to have a meeting to review the conditions of the social assistance. We found that the labour secretaries did not experience the project as useful, they found the project as time consuming and unnecessary for both the client and to them as labour secretaries. The social secretaries experienced the project and unnecessary and informed us that the client found the project as time consuming and frustrating. The leeway for the labour secretaries and the social secretaries has changed within the project pilot. The cooperation between the two professions is affected by the project in the sense that it is greatly time consuming for the labour secretaries and the social secretaries have no chance to a cooperation with the labour secretaries as they did before. The changes made to the leeway and cooperation between the two professions have changed because of lack of resources and time.

Uppsatsen syftade till att undersöka vilket handlingsutrymme socialtjänstens handläggare i en mindre kommun har vid utredning av insatsen boendestöd. Sju informanter, två stycken enhetschefer och fem stycken handläggare, från två enheter deltog i en intervjustudie kompletterad med tre stycken vinjettfall. En av enheterna arbetar gentemot beroende och den andra mot socialpsykiatri. I resultatet framkom en viss skillnad i hur enheternas personal förklarar och beskriver sitt handlingsutrymme. I den aktuella kommunen saknas lokala riktlinjer för insatsen boendestöd vilket påverkar handläggarnas handlingsutrymme och handlingsfrihet på flera sätt enligt informanterna. Några informanter känner sig begränsade i sitt arbete på grund av avsaknaden av lokala riktlinjer medan andra ger intryck av att känna sig friare i sitt arbete. För att beviljas boendestöd från socialpsykiatrin krävs en längre tids kontakt med psykiatrin, medan det inte krävs någon dokumentation gällande ett missbruks varaktighet för att beviljas boendestöd från beroende.

Background: In Sweden the national labour market policies are administered by the Public Employment Service which is in charge of assessing job-seekers’ need for support in the process of reaching employment. Equality is a fundamental principle for the administration. Neither ethnicity nor the person’s economical situation should influence the assessment. At the same time job-seekers are entitled to an individual assessment. Although the state has a national responsibility for labour market policy since the 1990s different municipal labour market interventions have also developed.   Aim: To investigate the impact of different income support systems (unemployment benefit/activity support or social assistance) and ethnicity on the assessments made by public employment officers.   Method: The study used a quantitative method with a questionnaire in the form of a factorial vignette experiment with fictitious cases in which only one factor/variable changed. 118 respondents at eight employment offices completed the survey between 20 January and 1 April 2020. Correlation analyses were performed using crosstabs (Cramers V) and Chi2-tests. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare data at two different times (first and second phase of the survey).   Results: Employment officers advocated support at the employment service/external operator as their first choice in 86 per cent of cases, against municipal labour market interventions as first choice in 14 per cent of cases. There were statistically significant differences in the assessments based on the form of income support in all three vignettes. Unemployment benefit/activity support and social assistance resulted in statistically significant different assessments. Employment officers want to refer job-seekers with social assistance to municipal labour market interventions more often than they do with those with unemployment benefit or activity income. No significant differences in the assessments were observed regarding the ethnicity of job-seekers.   Conclusions: The study shows that in the process of labour market policy assessment not only the job-seeker's ability to work and the need for support to find a job is evaluated, but the income support system of the job-seeker plays a role. The differences in assessments based on the job-seekers' form of income may be due to categorisations. These categorisations may spring from stereotypical views of job-seekers benefiting from social assistance, or may be due to institutional factors with two different income support systems for the unemployed, or lastly spring from a lack of clarity regarding borders and distribution between national and municipal labour market policies. Regardless the reason, the categorisations might lead to significant consequences for job-seekers with social assistance, who in addition to a lower level of economical compensation also risk being referred to municipal labour market interventions. These are sometimes designed to be a demand for activity in return for receiving social assistance and do not always have as their primary purpose to strengthen working capacity. Based on the results of the study, Sweden thereby does not live up to being a universal welfare state with social citizenship, since social rights do not apply equally to all job seekers.

Studien syftade till att undersöka hur socialsekreterare beskriver familjehemsföräldrars behov av stöd vid sammanbrott samt vilka möjligheter de uppfattar sig ha att möta stödbehovet. Sju socialsekreterare deltog i studien och data samlades in genom en fokusgruppsdiskussion och tre enskilda intervjuer. Studiens teoretiska ansats var teorin om gräsrotsbyråkrati samt begreppet handlingsutrymme. Resultatet visade att de intervjuade socialsekreterarna upplevde en svårighet att prata om sammanbrottet utan att se till placeringen i sin helhet. Det blev också tydligt att ämnet var ovanligt för socialsekreterarna att reflektera över. Stödjande samtal uppfattades vara det främsta stödbehovet och socialsekreterarna beskrev en för familjehemsföräldrarna känslomässig process i samband med ett sammanbrott, vilken de bemötte med tid för återhämtning samt “ett lyssnande öra”. Organisatoriska förutsättningar i form av arbetets organisering och dess kultur, ledningens insyn och förtroende, hög arbetsbelastning samt geografiskt långa avstånd var aspekter vilka möjliggjorde eller begränsade socialsekreterarna. / The aim of the study was to examine how social workers describe foster parents’ need of support in the event of a placement breakdown and which opportunities the social workers perceived having to meet the parents’ needs. A focus group and three individual interviews were made, including totally seven social workers in the study. The theoretical approach was the theory of street-level bureaucracy with focus on the concept of discretion. The social workers described a difficulty to talk about placement breakdown without seeing the placement as a whole. It became obvious that identifying foster parents’ needs during or after a placement breakdown was not perceived as part of the social workers’ work tasks. Although, they expressed that foster parents’ may need support in this situation. The social workers described an emotional process for foster parents, which they responded to with listening as well as “giving time for recovery”. Organizational conditions affecting the work were discussed in terms of workplace culture and organization, the management’s insight and trust, a high workload and geographically long distance which enabled or limited the social workers.

Uppsatsen syftade till att undersöka hur olika socialsekreterare resonerade i sina bedömningar inom ekonomiskt bistånd samt hur socialsekreterarna uppfattade och tillämpade sitt handlingsutrymme. Fem socialsekreterare intervjuades i en kvalitativ intervjustudie där även två vinjettfall ingick. Resultatet påvisade viss variation i resonemang och bedömningar samt att tid, ärendebelastning och samverkan med andra myndigheter enligt socialsekreterarna hade störst inverkan på deras handlingsutrymme. Resultatet motsade en del tidigare forskning, genom att organisatoriska kontrollmekanismer inom socialt arbete även kan upplevas som positivt för socialarbetarnas handlingsutrymme. Generellt sett kände sig majoriteten av socialsekreterare tämligen fria i sin yrkesutövning. Skillnader i socialsekreterarnas resonemang analyserades samt diskuterades. Vissa socialsekreterare tillämpade ett tämligen byråkratiskt förhållningssätt gentemot klienter och deras ansökningar, medan andra socialsekreterare fokuserade på alliansbyggande i sina bedömningar och resonemang. Utrymmet för socialsekreterarna att själva välja vilket förhållningssätt de önskade inta föreföll vara stort. / The aim of the study was to examine how social workers working with income support reasoned in their assessments and to examine how they perceived and applied their discretion. Five social workers were interviewed in a qualitative study, which also included two vignettes. Results showed that reasoning and assessments varied to some extent. The social workers described time, caseload and collaboration with other authorities as challenges, limiting their discretion. The results contradicted some previous research, as the social workers described positive aspects of organisational control mechanisms in relation to discretion. Generally they all felt rather free in the exercise of their profession. Differences in social workers reasoning were analysed and discussed. Some social workers applied a rather bureaucratic approach regarding clients, whilst others focused more on alliance building in their assessments. There seemed to be room to choose which approach to take depending on the social worker’s perception of the situation.

Social service’ information is crucial for a client’s possibilities to participate and influence. In this survey study we focus on the social workers’ relation to information:  What are the prerequisites for informing and how do they use their discretion? Previous research has shown communication problems due to insufficient or inadequate information material. Organizational support and social worker/client relationship have been shown as important factors for participation. The meaning and use of concepts such as participation and influence has also changed over time. No similar study has been carried out before, which makes the present study explorative. Through a mixed method questionnaire, we have tried to capture 125 respondents’ experiences of and attitudes to the clients' need for information. The study shows previously unidentified circumstances. One is that the vast amount of information provided to the client is perceived as a problem in itself. Another is the social workers’ emphasis on the clients’ understanding of the information. We perceive these circumstances as a sign of a juridification of social work, partly as a result of a cooptation process. Social service incorporate new elements in a way that strengthens the organisation's power at the expense of the street level bureaucrats’ discretion.

Abstract The aim of this qualitative case study was to examine social service workers and managers approach towards the implementation of the Signs-of-Safety (SoS) model and their comprehension of working with the model. This study took place at a children and youth unit at a social service office in Stockholm. The empiric is based on three qualitative semistructured interviews and participant observations. The result was analyzed by definitions from Hasenfeld’s Human service organizations (HSO), Lipsky’s and Johansson’s definitions of "street-level bureaucrats", and room for manoeuvre. Lundquist’s definitions of "understand", "want" and "can" was also used, as well as the core-components that Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman och Wallace draw together of a successful implementation. The main result of the study indicates that the SoS-model contributes to the participation of children and parents and that it is complicated to implement the SoS-model in such a specialized organization. The study’s result also shows that the implementation is promoted by the support and the resources of every level in the organization and the fact that the initiative came from the street-level bureaucrats. The documentary system that comes with the BBIC is complicated to combinate with the SoS-model and therefore this might become a restricting effect.

Studien syftade till att undersöka hur socialsekreterare arbetade med barns delaktighet i socialtjänstens barnavårdsutredningar samt hur covid-19-pandemin påverkade detta. Kvalitativa intervjuer hölls med åtta socialsekreterare om deras erfarenheter av utredande arbete med barn innan och under covid-19-pandemin. Socialsekreterarna visade stort en­gagemang för barns delaktighet, men det framkom att delaktigheten främst handlade om att inhämta information från barn om deras situation. Resultatet visade att pandemin har haft negativ påverkan på barns möjligheter till delaktighet. Socialsekreterarnas handlings­utrymme påverkades i varierande grad beroende på verksamhetens förhållningssätt till riktlinjer och restrik­tioner. Det framkom stora skillnader mellan hur socialsekreterare har träffat och inkluderat barn både innan och under covid-19-pandemin. Av resultatet att döma var arbetet med barns delaktighet en utmaning sedan tidigare, men det har ställts på sin spets under covid-19-pandemin. För barn kunde situationen liknas vid ett lotteri för i vilken utsträckning de gjordes delaktiga, utifrån den socialsekreterare de tilldelats. / The aim of this qualitative study was to examine how social workers at child welfare agencies implemented the principle of children's right to participation in child protection investigations and how the covid-19-pandemic has affected it. Eight social workers were interviewed on their experiences before and during the covid-19-pandemic. The social workers showed much interest in children’s participation, but findings showed they mostly thought of it as acquiring information from children. The study found that the covid-19-pandemic had a negative effect on the possibilities of participation. Experiences of how the covid-19-pandemic affected discretion and relative autonomy differed between the social workers. Notable differences emerged regarding how they met and included children in investigations both before and during the covid-19-pandemic. The challenges of implementing children’s right to participation seems to persist. The situa­tion appeared much like a lottery, where children’s level of participation greatly depended on which social worker they were assigned.