Lagstiftning förändrar livsöden : Applicering av lagar gällande fosterbarn i Uppsala under åren 1920-1930

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this BA thesis is to study what the rules for foster children were like in Sweden during the 1920s, with a focus on the 1902 and the 1924 law, respectively. The aim of the analysis is to study the similarities and differences between the two legislations. The purpose is also to study how the rules were subsequently followed and possibly changed in practice in Sweden during the years 1920-1930, with a focus on individual cases of foster children in the city of Uppsala. A further purpose of this essay is to investigate a potential application of the theme of this essay in the history subject in school. A didactic purpose is thus to investigate the extent to which the current curriculum for upper secondary school deals with areas that concern individual history and social history. The aim of the analysis is also to both problematize and see the possibilities with an application of the essay topic in teaching. The didactic perspective aims to open for discussion about how individual history could function as arousing interest for students in history teaching. The result shows that the rules for foster children changed in Sweden during the 1920s, mainly regarding the requirement for the municipalities to introduce a child welfare board. Previously, the boards had the task of checking that the foster care was not inappropriate. With the introduction of child welfare boards also came the task of keeping notes of decisions regarding foster children. In addition, the age limit for foster children increased from seven years to 16 years. The rules were largely followed in practice for foster children. Information about the foster children became more detailed after the year 1926. The point where the legislation broke in practice was regarding notification that a foster child has been received, as the time indication changed during the archive study for most of the foster children. The didactic result shows that there are opportunities in dealing with subjects such as social history and individual history in history teaching in upper secondary school. The syllabus touch on both subjects to a high degree, mainly to draw attention to living conditions.