Lagen med särskilda bestämmelser för vård av unga : Barns möjlighet att påverka

Sammanfattning: In the Social Services Act in Sweden, it is stated that every child has the right to be given information and the opportunity to express its will and opinion. The child’s possibility to participate in the process of investigation should be considered with respect to the child´s age and maturity. By reasons of this we have chosen to examine how this is practiced in Swedish courts regarding eight cases where the out of home care of children according to 1 and 2 §§ in LVU is being judged. This has been done through a qualitative study with an attempt of using an argumentation analysis method. The main result of our study is that in the cases we studied the children had participated to a larger extent than described in previous research. Anyhow, when it comes to taking children’s, opinions in account, the cases we studied showed still great flaws and need of improvements. The conclusion of our study is that children's participation is a complex issue where more research is needed. Having this said, we believe that the subject of children’s participation must be more highlighted if a greater change is going to happen in the society.