Barn har rätt att få sin röst hörd - Barnahusets arbete med barn som bevittnat våld mellan närstående

Sammanfattning: Children are not only negatively affected by being exposed to violence themselves, but they are also affected by witnessing violence. For example, mental health issues and not getting the support that they need. In 2021, the law “barnfridsbrott” came into effect, making it illegal to allow a child to witness violence between people they have a close relationship with. This study is about the concept of Barnahus and their work with children who have witnessed people that they have a close relationship subjecting each other to violence. In our qualitative study, we interviewed 7 social workers that work as coordinators at Barnahus in Sweden. Barnahus is a concept where agencies like social services and police cooperate to make the legal process as positive as possible for the child when there is a suspicion of a violent crime. The collaboration between the different agencies is an essential part of the social worker's job. The cooperators vary on the different Barnahus depending on where it is. As an example, not all of them have BUP (Barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin) or doctors. The basis of Barnahus is to strengthen children's rights and let them be heard. When we analyzed our results, we applied Jane Addams's theory of Microsociology and Håkan Gustafsson's theory of “rättighetifiering” to illustrate how to make a change. Not only a change is required for an individual, but a holistic perspective is required. With the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child and the new law “barnfridbrott” more children get the help and the support they need. The first thing that our results showed was that the different Barnahus had various amounts of support for the child and the family. Some Barnahus had more of a supporting role and some focused more on treatments. Secondly, it showed that not every child who witnessed violence between someone close to them got to have the professionals at Barnahus discuss their case and what was best for the child in that situation. That could depend on the organization of the police and other agencies' knowledge of “barnfridsbrott”. Lastly, it showed us that the laws “barnfridsbrott” and the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child strengthen children's rights and make it so that more children get their rights accommodated.