Handlingsvillkoren i socialtjänstens barn- och ungdomsarbete

This essay deals with Swedish socialworkers in child protective services and their work with children and young people. The study focuses on three subjects, namely a) professional specialisation, b) power and discretion and c) how social workers approach and relate to clients in their work. These three subjects constitute the organisational conditions that are the subjected to analysis. Six interviews with social workers have been analysed through i.a. the theory of Michael Lipsky that deals with discretion and street- level bureaucracy. Three social workers working with child investigations and three social workers working with treatment were interviewed for this study. One focus of the study was on the comparison between the organisational conditions of these professions. One of the conclusions drawn is that there are differences between the two professions, in particular concerning the degree of bureaucratization in the exercise of the profession. The social workers who work with investigations strive for a higher structure and more time for writing compared to the social workers who work with treatment. In particular the last-mentioned try hard to build a relation to their clients. Thanks to this relation, the execution of power of the social worker is more efficient. According to Lipsky's theory, there is always a distance between the official and the client. One of the conclusions drawn in the essay is that this distance is less visible within the studied area, i.a. because the work of the social workers is focused on the child, not the parents. By trying to find what's best for the child, the social worker can exercise their power towards the parents without creating a distance towards the client