The child's voice as part of the assessment of the child's best interests : a critical discourse analysis of custody investigations where violence has occurred

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur barnets bästa konstrueras i vårdnadsutredningar där en förälder utövat våld eller uttryckt hot om våld mot någon i familjen. Fokus i studien var vilken betydelse barnets röst ges i bedömningen av barnets bästa. Studiens empiri bestod av tio vårdnadsutredningar som ingått som underlag i tingsrättsdomar under andra hälften av år 2020. Studien utgick från en kritisk diskursanalytisk ansats tillsammans med en förståelse av barn från det barndomssociologiska perspektivet. Analysen av empirin gjordes med Faircloughs tredimensionella modell och ett urval av analysverktyg från den modellen samt utifrån det barndomssociologiska perspektivet. Studien visar att det inte är entydigt hur barnets röst kommer fram i bedömningen av barnets bästa i utredningarna. Barnet tilldelas två positioner i empirin, vilka benämns barnet som subjekt och barnet som objekt. Ofta avgör barnets ålder och mognad om barnet blir subjekt eller objekt. Det framkommer också att ibland skrivs barnets berättelser om våldshändelser om till mildare formuleringar i slutbedömningen. The aim of this study was to examine how the best interests of the child are constructed in custody investigations where a parent has used violence or expressed threats of violence against someone in the family. The focus of the study was what significance the child’s voice was given in the assessment of the child’s best interests. The study’s empirical data consisted of ten custody investigations that were included as a basis in district court judgements during the second half of 2020. The study was based on a critical discourse analytical approach together with an understanding of children from the childhood sociological perspective. The analysis of empirical data was done using Fairclough's three-dimensional model and a selection of analytical tools from that model as well as from the childhood sociological perspective. The study shows that it is not clear how the child's voice emerges in the assessment of the child's best interests in the investigations. The child is assigned two positions in the empirical data, which are referred to as the child as a subject and the child as an object. Often, the age and maturity of the child determine whether the child becomes a subject or an object. It also emerges that sometimes the child's stories of violent events are rewritten into milder wording in the final assessment