Ung i fattig familj - Beslut och bedömning utifrån barnperspektiv vid handläggning av ekonomiiskt bistånd

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to show the relevance of child-perspectives in the welfare services in Malmö municipality. A group of social secretaries directed to families with children who are current cases in more than one instance of the social services have been asked to discuss child perspective and the needs of children. The outcomes of the interviews are analyzed from street-level bureaucracy theory as a means of handling welfare recipients from a child perspective. The principle of a child perspective is widely used in welfare policies in Sweden. In Malmö municipality the work regarding welfare and social help is divided into teams which are working with specific client groups. The study shows that although there is great support for working in a child-focused organization, the individual social worker can be the difference between the intention to maintain child-perspective and the actual practice. Differences between work teams with the same guidelines can be acknowledged by the practical work and the amount of clients. By analyzing the outcome of the interview we have established that a child perspective is present, but mostly consists of the individual workers focusing on the children. Keywords: Welfare, social services, child-perspective, street-level bureaucracy, gatekeeping.