The aim of this study is to find a deeper understanding of in which ways social workers experience that children are exploited to continue power and control, in the form of post-separation abuse, towards the mother after the separation from the abusive father. The study also wants to bring attention to which consequences this can cause the child, from social workers' experiences. The questions at issue are 1. In which ways do social workers see that children are exploited to expose the mother to post-separation abuse? and 2. Which consequences of this exploitation have been seen by social workers? This study uses a qualitative method in the form of interviews. This method is used due to the goal of finding a deeper and more clear view on the social workers' perspective on these questions. In this study there have been 6 interviews. 5 of the respondents work within the Swedish Social Services and 1 in a municipal counseling service. 2 of the respondents work with the children and the remaining 4 work with the adults/parents. The result of this study shows 4 ways children can be exploited to post-separation abuse towards the mother. 1. The child is forced to ally with the father. This means that the child imitates the fathers behavior, language or vocabulary. 2. Misleading penalty. This means that the child is penalized through the fathers' attempt to punish the mother. 3. Economy as an unwitting arena. This means that the father tries to obstruct the mothers' economy by withholding child support or by not contributing towards the childs' clothes or activities. 4. The child as a messenger between the parents. This means the hand-over of the child. This also includes situations where the child is forced to give information about the mother to the father. The result of this study shows that consequences of exploiting the children during post-separation abuse are mental health issues, guilt and shame, poor self-esteem, developmental trauma and being wrongfully diagnosed with, for example, ADHD. This study shows that it is very common and highly likely that children are exploited as a pawn in post-separation abuse towards the mother.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-68327 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Persson, Alexandra, Rosberg, Fredrika |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle (HS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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