Background: In a part of Wales where over 50% of the population were bilingual, one community physical rehabilitation services had no Welsh speaking therapists. This research attempts to find whether Welsh speakers had the same access to health and social care services and whether their outcomes were similar to non-Welsh speaking patients; and what the service users' opinion were on Welsh language services. Methodology: 1 - Therapy inputs and outcomes of service users who spoke Welsh were compared to service users who did not speak Welsh with a rehabilitation team where no therapists spoke Welsh. 2 - The ratio of Welsh speakers referred to the rehabilitation services and accepted for services were compared with the ratio of Welsh speakers in the general population. 3 - 201 service users were asked for their opinion on services and their language choice, and the possible effect on their ability to effectively receive a rehabilitation service. Results: Significantly fewer Welsh speakers were referred to the rehabilitation service than the anticipated percentage (p < 0.001). Wales' social services do not document individuals' language preference consistently. A significant difference was found in the therapy outcomes measured by outcome measures according to the patients' language if the practitioners could not speak Welsh. Welsh speaking patients had significantly lower results following rehabilitation than non-Welsh speakers (p < 0.05). The vast majority of Welsh speaking patients who were asked believed they would have preferred receiving services in Welsh. Conclusion: Awareness raising training for practitioners and carers, as well as language training, including 'little words' training, would support availability of Welsh language services. Consideration should be given to creating a specialist national agency to maintain a database of Welsh speaking practitioners, from which health boards and local authorities could buy their services when appropriate.

Syftet med följande studie är att undersöka vilken verkan lagändringen i Brottsbalken (SFS1962:700, 4 kap. 3 §), avseende barnfridsbrott, har fått för socialtjänstens arbete. Vidare ämnarstudien belysa socialarbetares upplevelser av att arbeta med barn som upplevt våld mellannärstående. Studien antar en hermeneutisk utgångspunkt och använder sig av organisationsteorin,professionsteorin och begreppet handlingsutrymme för att tolka och förstå resultatet. Femsemistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med socialarbetare som dagligen kommer i kontaktmed barn i sitt arbete. Intervjuerna transkriberades och analyserades därefter genom kodning ochen tematisk analys, vilket resulterade i att två huvudteman och sju delteman identifierades. Avstudiens resultat framgår att lagändringen inte haft någon större påverkan på det praktiskaarbetet, då socialtjänsten redan arbetade utifrån barnets bästa i stor utsträckning. Däremotupplever respondenterna att arbetet för rättsväsendet och andra samverkanspartner har förändratstill följd av lagändringen. Likaså har samverkan ökat, både internt inom socialtjänstens olikaenheter, och externt mellan olika myndigheter och andra samverkanspartner. Studien påvisar attbarns rättigheter delvis har stärkts då barn i allt större utsträckning ses som egen part. Samtidigtfinns brister i samverkan och begränsningar i svensk lagstiftning och praxis, som gör det svårtför socialarbetare att tillförsäkra barns rättigheter. / The aim of this study is to examine what effect the new law regarding violation of children’sintegrity has had on social services’ work. The study adopts a hermeneutic approach and usesorganizational theory, professional theory and social worker's use of discretion to interpret andunderstand the results. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five social workers. Theinterviews were transcribed and subsequently analyzed through coding and a thematic analysis,which resulted in the identification of two main themes and seven sub-themes. The studyconcluded that the change in the law did not have a particularly large impact, since the socialservices were already working in the best interest of the child to a large extent. However, socialworkers feel that the work of the judiciary and other cooperation partners has changednoticeably. Likewise, collaboration has increased, both internally within the social services, andexternally between different authorities and other collaboration partners. Furthermore, the studyshows that children's rights have been partially strengthened, as they are increasingly seen astheir own party. Despite this, there are shortcomings in cooperation and other limitations inSwedish legislation and practice that make it difficult for social workers to ensure that children'srights are met.