Våldsutsatta kvinnor : och socialtjänstens förutsättningar att ge dem hjälp och stöd enligt 5. kap 11 § SoL

Sammanfattning: In the past decades there has been a progress in the legislation which regulates the rights of battered women. The social services are the authority which has the primary responsibility for battered women. This responsibility is regulated in the law since 1998. Evaluations have shown that the support for battered women needs to be improved since a majority of the rural districts don’t have any emergency services or plan of action for these women. This research project has first and foremost aimed at exploring the conditions in the social services, concerning the possibilities to help and support battered women. The central questions of the essay where: Has the extended responsibility of battered women been elucidated by the authorities? Are there any obstacles in the social services which could influence the possibilities to give battered women help and support? And finally are social workers motivated to work with battered women? Firstly I did a survey of the literature in the field of laws. Secondly I mapped out the problems which can appear when implementing these laws. This constituted the base for the project. Empirical data from social services in seven rural districts is presented to illustrate the social workers opinion about the conditions and the obstacles in the social services to support and help battered women. The conclusion of this research project was that the social services have all the requirements to give battered women help and support. But there are also some obstacles in the form of insufficient knowledge about symptom- and consequences of violence. The social workers also stated that the social services have some organizational problems when it comes to help and support battered women.