From the filing of an application to evict to the final execution of an eviction order is a long and complicated process. This raises questions about how the actors involved experience and act during this process. The general aim of the study was to describe and analyse this process from the respective perspectives of the landlords, the social services and the individuals (families) facing eviction in three municipalities in the county of Stockholm. The issues discussed are how the landlords and the social welfare offices are organised, their work procedures, respective scopes of action and resources, and how individuals facing eviction cope with their life situation. The material for the study consists of qualitative interviews with nine handling officers at six landlord offices, fifteen social workers at three social welfare offices, twelve individuals who were facing eviction and fifteen observations of conversations between social workers and individuals who were facing eviction. The analytic framework used consists of perspectives and concepts derived from organisation theory – Human Service Organizations and street-level bureaucrats – and theories on coping. A main result of the study is that the work procedures of the professionals are standardised in many ways and are characterised by similar procedures for classifying and categorising the individuals facing eviction, irrespective of how the three municipalities have organised their work. Another main result is that the primarily interests of the individuals facing eviction are to meet what they experience to be their children’s needs, and to avoid eviction. Further, the individuals experience as stressful their life situation marked by the threat of eviction in combination with reduced financial resources that make it difficult for them to meet their children’s needs. The study has identified two types of strategies that individuals facing eviction use in order to cope with their life situation and to achieve their interests. These are emotion-focused strategies and problem-focused strategies, which are described and discussed.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how children are affected by eviction and structural homelessness in Sweden, and also to investigate what rights children have towards the Swedish state and Swedish municipalities under the Convention on the Right of the Child. To achieve the purpose, the author has used rapports of evicted and homeless children in Sweden, and analyzed the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The author did this to see what obligations the Swedish state and the Swedish municipalities have towards the children. Documents from Malmo and Gothenburg municipality are also used to see how the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child looks like at the local level. A comparison between the municipalities was made to see if there are similarities or differences between the municipalities implementation of the convention. An investigation was also done to see whether the municipalities comply the claims of the convention.

Studien har undersökt hur socialsekreteraren upplever sitt handlingsutrymme i det vräkningsförebyggande arbetet med barnfamiljer. Studien belyser faktorer som både begränsar och möjliggör handlingsutrymmet för socialsekreteraren i arbetet med barnfamiljerna samt hur detta i sig påverkar barnfamiljerna. Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om socialsekreterares upplevelser av sitt handlingsutrymme kopplat till det vräkningsförebyggande arbetet när det kommer till barnfamiljer. För att göra detta har vi utgått från en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer där vi mött socialsekreterare som arbetar vräkningsförebyggande med barnfamiljer inom Socialtjänsten på enheten för ekonomiskt bistånd. Vårt empiriska material består av sju stycken intervjuer med socialsekreterare som arbetar inom olika stadsdelsförvaltningar i Stockholm stad. Vi har utgått från Michael Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater i analyserandet av den empiriska data, en teori som berör det handlingsutrymme som gräsrotsbyråkrater besitter i sin position mellan organisation och klient. Studiens resultat visar att socialsekreteraren upplever ett splittrat handlingsutrymme i deras vräkningsförebyggande arbete med barnfamiljer som innebär en balansgång mellan känslan av ett stort handlingsutrymme och påverkan, samtidigt som det är starkt bundet till organisation och chef samt yttre och inre faktorer i organisationen. Här lyfts att arbetserfarenhet är starkt kopplat till upplevelsen av ett större handlingsutrymme och därmed möjlighet till påverkan för barnfamiljerna. Studien belyser även frågor från socialsekreteraren om handlingsutrymmets eventuella personbundenhet samt svårigheter i att navigera huruvida handlingsutrymmet ska användas gentemot barnfamiljen eller gentemot Socialtjänsten. / The aim of this study is to examine how social workers understand and experience their discretion in the daily work with eviction prevention when it comes to children’s families. The study was conducted through qualitative semi-structured interviews with social secretaries. Our empirical data is based on seven interviews with social secretaries from different district administrations in Stockholm stad. Drawing on Michael Lipsky’s theory on street level bureaucracy, we have analysed their reflections and examined how social workers view their position and level of discretion. Lipsky’s theory is based on the role that street level bureaucrats possesses and how the position of being in between the organization and the clients affect their daily work. The outcome of the study shows experiences of a partly fragmented discretion in daily work with eviction prevention for families with children. The experienced discretion is dual: there is both a feeling of a rather big discretion with the possibility to affect, but also a strong experience of discretion being bound to organization and their closest boss, including inner and outer factors. Among other things, work experience was highlighted as a direct connection to the experience of a bigger discretion and a possibility to effect. The study also highlights a question raised by the social secretaries concerning what direction their discretion should be used in, pointing to the different loyalties concerning if discretion is used with either the families or the organization itself in mind.