The right of children to express their views on matters concerning them is a core principle of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as defined in Article 12. However, research shows that interventions provided by Swedish child and family welfare services are planned and based on parents' perspectives even though research suggests that child participation results in welfare service provision that is better matched to the children's needs. The aim of this study is to explore how child participation is constructed in interventions provided by Swedish child and family welfare services and to study which elements are of importance to this process. The article is based on a qualitative interview study with 14 family social workers and 11 children aged 7-16 with experience of family interventions provided by the child and family welfare services. The results suggest that child participation is a collaborative process in which both the child and the FSW have an active role to play. Participation is constructed through a series of seemingly small, everyday actions in the meeting between the child and the FSW. By actively asking questions and allowing the child to practice participation and influence the process, the FSW can, together with the child, work towards increased child participation in interventions.

Background: Stable housing is important for overall health and well-being among young people, and poor-quality housing can trigger multiple diseases, including infections, injuries, chronic diseases, and psychological problems. However, many young people in Sweden struggle with an unstable housing situation. It is therefore important to illuminate how health, social, and civic society professionals and volunteers see the overall health situation for young people (16–27 years) in unstable housing situations.

Method: Sixteen health, social, and civic society professionals and volunteers, from both municipal and governmental organizations and civic society, were interviewed during 2024 and were reached through convenience and purposive sampling. The data was analyzed with content analysis.

Results: The results showed that the professionals and volunteers considered that there is a lack of basic necessities, such as food and clothes and often also a place to sleep, among young people in unstable housing situations. They also recounted that the bodies of those young people are weakened as a result of the unstable situation, with its stress and lack of proper care. There are, however, challenges with regard to accessing healthcare and the young people in question are often hesitant to seek care, and inclined to avoid it. Furthermore, the participants mentioned psychosocial challenges, due to loneliness and lack of close contacts with family and friends, and said that people struggling with homelessness tend to suffer from mental illness.

Conclusion: Young people in unstable housing situations need support to stabilize them for the future, and in order to work toward a more stable housing situation for these people in the county of Scania, a holistic approach is necessary. This is crucial in view of their overall health, as well as their well-being and life satisfaction.

This article explores children's actions of participation, and how these can be understood, using the concept of agency. The study is based on social constructionist theory and includes interviews with 11 children aged 7-16 who received open care interventions. It finds that children's actions, as described by the children, are formed in relation to situational constraints ranging from actions that are accepted and sometimes encouraged, to actions that challenge the boundaries of what is permitted by their position as children. The article contributes to a broader understanding of children's actions of participation in a social work context.

This article aims to develop an understanding of food and meals as a family practice of migrant families living in structural homelessness. It is based on a study in which 15 children (aged 9-16) photographed events in their everyday lives and spoke about them. In addition, the children's parents (17 mothers and fathers) were interviewed. This article reveals that meals have different meanings for these families: as a structure in the everyday life, as a form of caring for the family, and as a social occasion in which the family's culture becomes expressed through traditional foods and dishes. Meals also become a means of maintaining a sense of normality in a difficult life situation. They function as a unifying family practice and a bearer of emotions as they communicate a sense of security, tradition, and identity. The photographs allowed meal practices to be displayed and acknowledged in relation to their surroundings. Despite difficult living conditions and restricted economic circumstances, the photographs indicate that the children are given well-balanced meals. The families try to make the best of the opportunities available to them.

The present paper aims to explore whether a prison literacy project, Bedtime stories from inside, can contribute to improving and maintaining relationships between incarcerated fathers and their children. The analysis is focused on the concepts "doing family" and "affinities". The material consists of anonymous evaluation forms from the incarcerated fathers (70) and the carers (46). The results show that deeper familial connections are possible when fathers are allowed to interact with their children in a way that includes attending to practicalities like reading fairy tales to their children. The family practices within the project contribute to challenging norms of masculinity and overcoming impulses to shut down emotionally. The project highlights the need for the prison system and social work practice to support families in the hard work of forming and maintaining connections.

Godnattsagor från insidan – familjepraktiker och affiniteter i familjer med frihetsberövade fäder 

Artikelns syfte är att utforska huruvida ett fängelseprojekt för att synliggöra barnlitteratur och läsning, Godnattsagor inifrån, kan bidra till att förbättra och bevara relationer mellan frihetsberövade fäder och deras barn. Analysen använder begreppen familjepraktiker och affiniteter. Materialet består av anonyma enkäter från de frihetsberövade fäderna (70) och omsorgsgivarna (46). Resultatet visar att djupare familjekontakt blir möjlig när fäder kan interagera med sina barn på ett sätt som inkluderar praktisk omsorg, till exempel att läsa en saga för barnet. Familjepraktikerna i projektet bidrar till att utmana normer kring maskulinitet och att undvika känslomässig avstängdhet. Projektet visar vikten av ett kriminalsystem och ett praktiskt socialt arbete som stöttar familjer i det svåra arbetet kring att forma och bevara nära kontakt. 

The aim of this paper is to examine how the rights of homeless children to housing and protection in accordance with articles 27 and 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are upheld in Malmö. The two research questions that are of particular interest in relation to this objective are firstly whether the Swedish parliament’s decision to incorporate the Convention on children’s rights into Swedish law has had a concrete effect on the implementation of children’s rights to housing and protection, and secondly how new guidelines that were introduced in Malmö in 2019 have had an impact on the same. The study is qualitative and employs an ethnographic approach based on conversations with 14 girls and 6 boys, which proceeded from photographs the children had taken of their housing situation and daily lives. The results show that homeless children and their needs and rights remain largely unseen in the work of the social services. The situation of this already vulnerable group has also worsened since our conversations with the children, since a majority no longer are part of the social services’ target group according to Malmö’s guidelines regarding homeless persons. It may be argued that such a result provides an indication both of society’s approach to children located on the extreme margins of society and of the way in which welfare provision has developed in Sweden. 

The Swedish Prison and Probation Service's and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Children belonging to incarcerated parents are typically a marginalised group within society who are often devoid of efficient support. This article discusses the realisation of children’s rights within the Swedish Prison and Probation Services based on the perspectives of staff members. This qualitative study has employed data collection through thematic interviews with staff at five institutions. In this article, the following four themes have been discussed: the difference in children’s rights based on a parent’s gender, the rights of a child to contact their incarcerated parent, the participation of a child within the Swedish Prison and Probation Services, and the staff's thoughts on the Prison Service's child rights perspective, current and future. The results display traditional norms continue to steer work within the Swedish Prison and Probation Services, partly creating differences in how children’s rights are realised, resulting in largely unseen parenting from fathers. There exist good examples of such realisations; however, a child’s perspective is largely influenced by staff commitment and individual interests. In implementing the CRC, respondents suggested an accompaniment of children placed in central units with their parents to provide the necessary support from educated staff. Furthermore, there is an additional desire for improved cooperation with social services.

50404This article addresses the documentation and handling processes within the social services concerning applications of housing for homeless families with children, from the perspective of central articles of the Convention of the rights of the Child (UNCRC). Of particular interest is if or to what extent the children of the homeless families participate (article 12) during the application process and if an analysis of the best interest of the child (article 3) has been conducted. These two articles are essential keys for providing a children’s rights perspective and to initiate an analysis of the consequences for the involved children. For that purpose, we have analysed 270 social services files concerning applications for housing made by homeless families in Malmö during the year 2017 emanating from a R&D report of Malmö municipality. Our findings show that only very few files documented the voice and participation of the children in the homeless families and a complete analysis of what could be considered to be in the best interest of the child or children in the families were lacking in almost all files. We also found that parts of previous documentation were recycled and used in various situations without adaption and seemed to be more of standardized phrasing rather than a comprehensive analysis. There was also a use of internal authority checklists and guides when justifying and supporting the decisions made where families receiving such decisions probably did not get any wiser of such justifications.

Since the conceptions, norms, and values that govern the work of child protection are elusive, they are rarely discussed in the research. This study is based on diaries maintained by three social workers in relation to 15 families that were the subject of interventions by the child protective services in Sweden. All of the mothers in the 15 families had been diagnosed with mental health problems. The diaries include both significant events within the families and the social workers’ own feelings and perceptions about their work. This article discusses four themes: the Janus face of child protective services, clienthood and its conditions, child protective services and good or bad parenting, and the fathers. The results show that the families were subjected to extensive discipline. The diaries also expressed strong value judgements regarding how children should be raised. The parents’ desires and wishes were redefined by the social workers, making the parents powerless. The fathers were marginalized, which meant that an important resource within the families was lost. The parents reacted to this exercise of power in part by trying to escape it and in part by adapting to it. In summary, the desire to help was in some cases transformed into an abusive exercise of power.