Suchergebnisse

In all times and in all societies, there have been children who for various reasons have not been able to grow up with their biological parents. The solutions to the problems have varied; in Sweden, most of the children have been placed in foster care. Because of the act regulating state childcare passed in 1926, child welfare boards were established in the municipalities. These boards were responsible for placing children with foster parents and for supervising foster homes. Foster parents were required to be suitable in order to be allowed to take care of a foster child. This article analyzes conceptions of foster parents' suitability in relation to perceptions of foster children's needs during the twentieth century. This study is based on document analysis of the child welfare practice. Via a long-term analysis, the study reveals continuity as well as changes over time. Major changes took place in the 1960s and 1970s with new requirements on foster parents due to changes in which children were placed in care and changing perceptions of childhood and parenthood in the society.

AbstractThe aim of this article is to investigate how children's care responsibility is recognised in records of personal assistance carried out by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (SSIA). The article consists of document analysis, examining how caring activities are made visible in the records, and professionals' views and actions regarding responsibilities placed on children. Data consist of 100 cases randomly selected from the SSIA register amongst applicants with children, focusing on parents' descriptions of their needs, the public officials' assessments, and statements from professionals. Recurring themes related to young carers were developed.

Summary In Sweden, a practice has developed where the social services have started to hire private consultants in child protection investigations. This article analyses and compares the handling of child protection investigations carried out by private consultants and municipally employed social workers with regard to the reasons for the reports, the investigations, the assessments, and the decisions taken about interventions. The concepts funnel and filtering and children's participation are used in the analysis. The study has a mixed-methods design, where qualitative and quantitative data and analysis are combined and integrated. Data consists of 120 case files regarding the social service's handling of investigations as well as interviews with managers of social service departments. Findings The results show several differences in the handling of child protection investigations carried out by social workers and private consultants in the municipalities studied. The private consultants worked to a greater extent with investigations that were initiated due to concerns about violence. Investigations conducted by consultants contained less information and specifically concerning children's perspective. These children also received interventions to a lesser extent than children assessed by the municipal social workers. Application The study indicates that from a child's perspective, it matters whether a municipally employed social worker or a private consultant performs an investigation. Consultants generally work temporarily in a workplace, and it may therefore be more difficult to establish a trusting relationship with the children, which can be a barrier to children's participation and the implementation of a child's perspective.

AbstractThe use of private consultants in child protection investigations in Sweden is an evolving practice that occurs under the radar; it is not in the political agenda and it is obscure in relation to legislation. The aim of this article is to analyse the contextual forces, facilitators and intentions behind the ongoing implementation of privatisation in child protection investigations. For this article, both quantitative and qualitative data for the years 2013–2017 were obtained through a telephone questionnaire. Managers of 32 social services departments were interviewed. Statistical data of the year 2018 collected by the National Board of Health and Welfare was also included in the analysis. Applying a mixed-method design, the article shows that some prerequisites in legislation make it possible for privatisation to develop. There are societal changes that act as contextual forces, and there are structures in place from earlier stages of the development of privatisation that facilitate the new practice. Also, there are professional intentions that drive the process. The implementation of private consultants in child protection takes place during a period of high workload for social services. The article concludes with a discussion about the consequences for children and families of this new trend in privatisation.

The use of private consultants in child protection investigations in Sweden is an evolving practice that occurs under the radar; it is not in the political agenda and it is obscure in relation to legislation. The aim of this article is to analyse the contextual forces, facilitators and intentions behind the ongoing implementation of privatisation in child protection investigations. For this article, both quantitative and qualitative data for the years 2013–2017 were obtained through a telephone questionnaire. Managers of 32 social services departments were interviewed. Statistical data of the year 2018 collected by the National Board of Health and Welfare was also included in the analysis. Applying a mixed-method design, the article shows that some prerequisites in legislation make it possible for privatisation to develop. There are societal changes that act as contextual forces, and there are structures in place from earlier stages of the development of privatisation that facilitate the new practice. Also, there are professional intentions that drive the process. The implementation of private consultants in child protection takes place during a period of high workload for social services. The article concludes with a discussion about the consequences for children and families of this new trend in privatisation.

The austerity measures in social welfare implemented by street-level bureaucrats in their practice are changing the direction of social policy. This article examines the strategies used by public officials in implementing austerity measures in needs assessment for personal assistance in Sweden. The article is based on a document study with N = 100 records of needs assessment for personal assistance for persons with serious functional disabilities. Findings show that the public officials at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency either limit or extend their discretion as a strategy, as well as use weak warrants as strong warrants in recommending decisions. Other strategies involve the organisational logic, fragmentation of the content in the needs assessment and division of work among the public officials. Implementing the cost-cutting goals causes severe consequences for persons with disabilities who bear the brunt by being excluded from participation in society. The social policy values of fifty years, emphasising the right to equal participation in society, are traded for economic austerity goals. ; Besparingsåtgärder i social välfärd implementeras av gatubyråkrater som i sin praktik förändrar riktningen på den förda socialpolitiken. Denna artikel undersöker de strategier som handläggare använder för att implementera besparingspolitik i utredningar av enskilda personers ansökning om personlig assistans. Artikeln baseras på en dokumentstudie av N=100 utredningar genomförda av Försäkringskassans handläggare. Resultaten visar att handläggare omväxlande begränsar eller utvidgar sitt handlingsutrymme och använder vägledande argument som styrande riktlinjer. Andra strategier som används är kopplade till logiker som gäller i organisationen, fragmentisering av data i utredningen och arbetsdelning av utredningens genomförande och beslutsfattande mellan gatubyråkrater i organisationen. Implementering av besparingsmål får allvarliga konsekvenser för personer med omfattande funktionsnedsättningar som riskerar att exkluderas från delaktighet i samhällslivet. Funktionshinderpolitikens nu 50-åriga målsättning om delaktighet på lika villkor byts i praktiken ut mot ekonomiska mål om besparingar.

ABSTRACTChildren with disabilities are over‐represented in foster care and exposed to more disruptions. This is unfortunate because they need long‐term relationships and predictability, as well as access to special schools and health care. Disruption can be the result of a poor match between the child and the foster family. In this article, we focus on the matching process in relation to children with disabilities. Zeijlmans et al. describe matching as the process by which social workers move from principles of good matching to realistic matching, depending on existing premises. Using their model, we analyse the matching process for children with disabilities in Sweden. The study is based on 31 individual interviews and six group interviews with social workers and social work managers. They describe how they take into account the family climate, family composition and prior knowledge and/or experience of disability in the foster home. However, disruptions occur even when these conditions are met. Stable placements seem to be more related to the fostered child's progress when the family's efforts are rewarded. We also address the complex issue of what disability actually means in the context of foster care, given the interrelatedness of trauma, maltreatment and impairment.

ABSTRACTStability is vital for the development, health and relationships of children in family foster care. Instability can lead to social and school issues, low self‐esteem and diminished trust in caregivers. This article examines the risk and protective factors for stability for these children. Data, drawn from case files in six municipalities (n = 116), combine qualitative and quantitative analyses for a comprehensive understanding. Twenty children from each municipality were selected, with 10 in stable placements (lived in one family foster home for over a year) and 10 in unstable placements (lived in at least two different family foster homes). Quantitative results highlight the importance of factors like familiar placements, a child's age at the time of placement, behavioural challenges and the number of children in the foster home. Stable placements were more common in homes with fewer children (including foster and biological children). Qualitative findings show that in some instances, breakdowns in foster care placements could not be foreseen, often arising from stressful events within the foster family's life after the child's placement. Additionally, we observed that breakdowns sometimes resulted from foster parents lacking the necessary resources to address the child's requirements, particularly in cases involving children with behavioural challenges or extensive needs.

AbstractChildren who have parents with any kind of illness may become young carers who take a responsibility not expected of children for household tasks, or personal or emotional care for parents and siblings. So far, little is known about children in Sweden who are at risk of becoming young carers. The aim of this article is therefore to explore the extent and impact of children's caring activities as reported in a pilot study by a sample of children in Sweden. A number of international questionnaires measuring the amount of caring activities, impact of caring, quality of life, and psychological well‐being were translated and combined into a survey. The pilot survey was completed by 30 children 10–18 years of age. Also, when completing the survey, the children were interviewed concerning their experiences of caregiving. The participants report on a group level emotional symptoms such as fear and nervousness above the clinical cut‐off value. They also rate a lower level of caring compared with findings from the United Kingdom, but they report a higher degree of negative impact of caring than young carers in the United Kingdom.