Barn med frihetsberövade föräldrar, en bortglömd grupp? : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om socialtjänstens hantering av ärenden gällande barn med frihetsberövade föräldrar

The aim of this study is to get a wider understanding regarding how social services handle cases with children of incarcerated parents. The study is based on interviews with seven social workers who all have experiences of some kind with these cases. The social workers were asked questions about what kind of support they could offer the children, what they found difficult in these cases and about how the childrens own wishes were taken in to consideration. The study shows that the social services in the municipalities were the interviews took place did not have any support that specifies on these cases although they often could offer some kind of general support. The majority of the social workers that were interviewed expressed a challenge in the fact that they did not have any specific guidelines or routines when it comes to these cases. Because of this some of the social workers thought the room for action was too large which they meant could obstruct the work when it comes to dealing with arising dilemmas. When it comes to children’s own wishes most of the social workers argued that when it is possible they try to listen and do the things the children want but also stressed that it is often a matter of the children’s age and maturity. The results of the study partly support the earlier studies, which considered these children as an forgotten group