Mellan hopp och förtvivlan En rättslig studie om socialnämndens utredningsförfarande i ärende om ensamkommande barn

Sammanfattning: The purpose of our research is to explore the investigation process of the cases of unaccompanied children by the social authorities. We present both national and international legal documents which are of importance to subject we have chosen. We also aim to study how these are put into practice by social authorities. This can help us to identify the problems and shortcomings in social authorities` practices in dealing with unaccompanied children’s cases. In order to achieve the best result in our research the qualitative method was used. This was based partly on qualitative interviews and on thorough examination of existing laws and regulations. Unlike international legal documents where issues of unaccompanied children addressed directly, the corresponding national Swedish rule system doesn’t regard and recognize the unaccompanied children as a specified group. The study has shown the necessity of general guidelines to be put in place to regulate procedures on how to deal with unaccompanied children for all Swedish municipalities.