Children are abused and neglected everywhere in our society, both in cities and in the country, in Swedish families and in families with a foreign background. The parents are primarily responsible for their children's upbringing, care and supervision but the Child Protective Agencies are responsible for children growing up under secure and good conditions, which mean that they must intervene if a child is abused or neglected in their home environment. To get the opportunity to fulfil this obligation, it must come to their knowledge if a child is maltreated and therefore some authorities are mandated to report when they suspect that a child needs protection. However previous research shows that few cases are reported (Lagerberg, 1998, Lundén & Broberg 2003). The aim of this thesis has been to describe and analyze preschool teachers´ views of mandatory reporting, how they use it and the teachers’ opinions of what may affect its use. The purpose of the thesis was reached after six interviews with preschool teachers’ in a medium-sized municipality in southern Sweden. The result is presented according to themes, which is then analyzed with the communication theory and theoretical concepts of help and power. The result shows that the preschool teachers’ feel that they have enough knowledge to make a report, however there are situations in which they choose not to. Instead they try to solve the problem in other ways such as by talking to the parents. The opinions of the preschool teachers’ are that uncertainty, the relationship with parents, colleagues’ attitude and the fait in social services are factors that can affect the use of mandated reporting. Although the preschool teachers’ have had bad experiences of mandatory reporting, they consider that the child has the right to get the help it needs. They feel that the report is vital for the child, a must and a matter of course. Preschool teachers’ assumes from the child when they are doing or considering a report. The child is in focus, it is in the teachers thoughts and the teachers do what they think is best for the child.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:vxu-5623 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Bergenholtz, Tina |
| Publisher | Växjö universitet, Institutionen för vårdvetenskap och socialt arbete |
| 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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