The thesis examines accompanied asylum-seeking children’s position in Swedish asylum reception management and in the determination of their claims. The three articles of the thesis focus on children’s own experiences of seeking asylum, on the experiences and practices of the civil servants at the Migration Board, as well as those of the legal representatives that assist asylum-seekers in the application process. The thesis builds on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2008 and 2010 in southwest Sweden. Theoretical inspiration has been sought in the new sociology of childhood as well as in practice theory. The first article in the thesis concerns children’s caseworkers who are responsible for safeguarding children’s interests in the Migration Board’s daily work with reception. The study highlights a range of dilemmas caseworkers have to deal with in their role as frontline bureaucrats. The study shows that the children’s caseworkers often perceive their discretion as limited, but also that they themselves contribute to limiting it, for example due to their hesitation in challenging existing norms and collegiality.    The second article examines the ways in which legal representatives, who act on behalf of families in asylum determinations, in their practice perceive and relate to the concept of children’s best interests and children’s right to participate. The study shows that children in families can become invisible in the legal representatives’ daily rounds. This invisibility is due to practical limitations in the representatives’ work as well as a general view that children rarely have their own grounds for asylum, as separate claimants to their parents. The third paper of the thesis explores the ways in which children experience and seek to influence circumstances that signify their time spent as asylum-seekers. The study shows how the children developed a range of tactics to deal with their particular situations, which varied with their housing and schooling, and the family’s financial resources. The conclusion is that the children themselves are the primary representatives of the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process, not least through their struggle to belong and create a life like that of ’ordinary’ children.  In line with previous research in the field, the thesis points to the contradiction between the principle of regulated migration and the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process. Together with practical circumstances, such as lack of resources, this contradiction results in a more limited implementation of the child perspective than rules and regulations actually stipulate. Finally, the thesis points to the active role asylum-seeking children take in their efforts to create an everyday life that is as similar as possible to that of  the ’ordinary’ children (e.g. non asylum-seeker and permanently settled children) around them. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted.</p>

Hur arbetar den svenska Polismyndigheten med relationsbyggande taktiker på Instagram? Genom att undersöka det engagemang, den interaktion och sättet på vilket Polisen bemöter kritik bemöts på plattformen har jag kunnat fastställat hur ett antal av dessa tekniker nyttjas i praktiken. Under en begränsad tidsperiod har samtliga inlägg och kommentarer som publicerats till myndighetens konto studerats utifrån tidigare forskning såväl som utifrån utvalda teoretiska perspektiv. I bearbetningsprocessen av det empiriska materialet uttyddes indikationer på att en konflikt uppstått som resultat av den polisiära närvaroden polisiära närvaron på Instagram. Konflikten konstaterades bero på den spänningen som sker när en statlig instans befinner sig på sociala medieplattformar där den externaa kommunikationen anpassas utifrån plattformarnas medielogik. Denna spänning har vidare problematiserats utifrån ett myndighetsperspektiv. I slutsatsen presenteras ett teoretiskt resultat som tydliggör vilka relationsbyggande taktiker som Polisen har använt sig av på Instagram. Här redogörs det också för vilka utmaningar en myndighet kan komma att möta när denna väljer att anpassa sin kommunikation utifrån medielogik.I slutsatsen presenteras ett teoretiskt resultat som tydliggör vilka utmaningar som medföljt när Polismyndigheten valt anpassa sin kommunikation utifrån medielogik. / How does the Swedish Police use relationship building tactics on Instagram? I’ve been able to determine how these tactics are being used practically by examining how the Police engages, interacts, and handles critique on this specific social media platform. All posts and comments posted published to the Police’s account during a selected timeframe have been examined through the lens of previous research and theoretical perspectives. As I began processing this material, a conflict emerged as a result of the Police’s use of the aforementioned tactics used to build relationships with the public. This conflict was determined to be the result of athe tension emerging when a government agency is required to adapt its communication afterto the media logiclogics of social media platforms. This tension was also discussed from the viewpoint of a government perspective. The theoretical results presented in the conclusion of thise thesis highlights the challenges that has facesd a government agency the which choses to Swedish Police as it adapts itsadapt its external communications afterto the media logic. I will also account for the relationship building tactics that has been used by the Police on Instagram.