Vad är viktigast? : En kvalitativ vinjettstudie om hur socialsekreterare resonerar kring vad som är barnets bästa i frågor som gäller familjehemsplacerade barns fortsatta boende.

Sammanfattning: The best interests of the child is a principle that social workers need to consider in their work.However, there is no clear definition of what the best interests of the child entail. Socialworkers make different intervention decisions even though they are presented with the sameinformation and misjudgments can lead to serious consequences. For this reason, with thisqualitative study, we want to gain a greater understanding, through a qualitative method, ofhow social workers reason about what is in the best interests of the child, in mattersconcerning the continued housing of children placed in foster care. To answer the purpose ofthe study, nine social workers from different municipalities in southern Sweden wereinterviewed. The interviews have been based on a vignette we developed. The study showsthat the best interests of the child, regarding the continued housing of children placed in fostercare, is a complex assessment as each child has unique needs and there are many differentfactors to take into account. The results of this study show that the social workers considerthat the child's opinion is important, but that the child's opinion may be in conflict with thechild's need for protection. The results also show that the child's participation is affected bythe child's age and maturity. The results of our study also indicate that different factors areconsidered differently important depending on who handles the case, which can lead todifferent assessments of the same case. The respondents' disagreement emerges most clearlywhen they reason about whether family reunification or the maintenance of attachment tiesshould be given priority.