Bland biblar och heliga kor - om barn och unga som far illa inom den sociala barnavården

Sammanfattning: Author: Anja Ferhatovic and Therese Stridh Title: Among bibles and holy cows - about maltreatment of children and youth in child welfare. [translated title] Supervisor: Claes Levin Assessor: Eva-Malin Antoniusson The purpose of this study was to examine social workers experiences of maltreatment of children and youth in child welfare. More specifically, our aim was to find out how social workers look upon the directives of the law in their work with children and youth, in what way maltreatment manifests itself in child welfare and how social workers look upon how the media presents maltreatment of children and youth in child welfare. Our aim was also to examine social workers experience of the conditions in their work and what they believe is needed to prevent maltreatment of children and youth in child welfare. The study was based on qualitative interviews with eleven social workers in Malmö. To analyze our material we used Lipsky`s theory of street-level bureaucrats using two kinds of perspectives; discretion and conflict. The study showed that social workers experience an absence of adequate resources in order to perform in the way that society expects them to. They also experience a conflict between what the organization expects them to do and what they can do within their discretion. The organization determines the degree of the discretion according to Lipsky, which corresponds well with our results. We found that some of the social workers found it hard to act in an organization without explicit goals and directives. They also expressed difficulties in question of interpretation and boundaries. The social workers thought that media is presenting an unfair and simplistic image of the child welfare. They also believed that this image could have a negative impact on the public, which could affect their work in a negative way. All these aspects combined with poor alternatives can contribute to maltreatment of children and youth in child welfare.