“Det är ingen chef som kommer säga emot barnkonventionen...” En kvalitativ studie om socialarbetares resonemang kring barns rättigheter i relation till det praktiska handlingsutrymmet

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the study was to understand how social workers reason about the Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to the scope for action within the Social Services. The study was based on three questions, how do social workers reason about children's right to have their voice heard in their work, how do social workers reason about children's right to receive information in their work and how do social workers reason about making decisions about the child's best interests based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child in their work. We have performed a qualitative method in the form of interviews to analyze and answer our questions. We have analyzed our material based on our theoretical starting points, accounts and discretion. What we came to realize during the study was that social workers reason differently about the Convention on the Rights of the Child depending on which section in the social services they work in. The results showed that social workers who had close contact with children and social workers who worked in social assistance, reason differently when it comes to applying children's rights practically. The social workers who worked at the social assistance experienced more difficulties in terms of children receiving information and children being allowed to speak as they had less contact with the children in general. The results have also shown that social workers believe that the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a new Swedish law has mostly increased their discretion when they have to make decisions in various matters. The interviewees expressed that they are able to grant more support when basing the decisions on the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The study concludes that the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a new Swedish law overall has increased the social workers' discretion.