Ensamkommande barn - En egen grupp : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om socialarbetares upplevelser av arbetet med ensamkommande barn

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of social workers working with unaccompanied children within municipal social service in Sweden. In particular, this study seeked better understanding of the possibilities and challenges social workers experience in their work and also highlight the differences and similarities in the work with unaccompanied children and children who are not unaccompanied. An abductive approach was used, moving between empirics and theories. The empirical data was collected through qualitative interviews with ten social workers with experience of working with both unaccompanied and children who are not accompanied. The results showed that the social workers working with the target group unaccompanied children felt that the work was more rewarding, in comparison to those who didnt work with the target group. Further, the social workers experienced that the unaccompanied children were not as prioritised as other children and that the language within the social services categorized the unaccompanied children as an own group. Accordingly the social workers felt there were more challenges in working with unaccompanied children. The hope is that this study will be an eye opener for the social work, and stop the separation of unaccompanied children into its own group