Pedagogers anmälningsplikt : - att anmäla barn som far illa

Abstract In 1998 the Swedish legislation was sharpened, and active educationalists were legally bound to report any suspicion of child maltreatment. Nevertheless, there are a number of unrecorded cases of maltreated children, and research reveals that less than half of these children are reported to social services (Olsson, 2001). The purpose of the present study was to illustrate the problems with the mandatory reports in schools, as well as to study how educationalists proceed when they suspect that a child is maltreated. The method consisted of semi-structured interviews with five educationalists. The results revealed complex problems regarding educationalists mandatory reports. The procedures and routines varied and seem to be dependent on the educationalists, schools, and situations. The results also exposed the lack of official support in form of policy procedure manuals. Conclusion was that educationalists defined maltreated children in different ways, and in addition educationalists were not aware of the full significance of the mandatory reporting, even though they were aware of that they had a duty to report