The objective was to explore how children and young people retrospectively described their own strategies to get access to protection and support for recovery after disclosing child sexual abuse. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 14 young people who had disclosed sexual abuse during childhood shows that the participants adopted a range of strategies to be able to access protection and support for recovery. The strategies include finding allies among adults, arguing their case, resisting adult agendas, taking initiatives, and choosing exit. The results demonstrate how a child’s agency may contribute to the outcomes for a particular child, while children’s opportunities for protection and recovery are both restricted by parental rights and heavily depend on responsive adults pushing a children’s rights agenda.

Previous research indicates that child welfare services reach out to children exposed to violence unequally depending on the child’s social background, living conditions and violence type, and that once children are investigated by the child welfare services, inequalities in access to interventions prevail (e.g. Kalin et al. 2022; Knezevic 2021; Persdotter & Andersson 2020; Quarles van Ufford et al. 2022). There is a lack of systematic knowledge about the long term outcomes for children investigated by the child welfare services. The current study explores different childhood trajectories in the aftermath of a child welfare investigation initiated due to children’s exposure to violence. A register was set up including all children (n= 1 764) between 7-12 years that were investigated by child welfare services in Stockholm in 2019 for suspected exposure to violence. As a baseline this cohort was systematically compared to demographic data and a national self-report prevalence study to explore possible biases regarding which children the child welfare services investigates (Kassman et al. 2023). In the current paper, the study group development in the first three years following upon the child welfare investigation was explored as regards living conditions, out of home care, health care consumption and school grades. The development of the study group was also systematically compared to a comparison group of children (n=5 000). Descriptive analysis, cluster analysis and logistic regressions were used. 

Objective: Based on the notion of selective recognition of vulnerability and risk, this study explores which children CWS pursue to a complete child welfare investigation.

Methods: A register was set up including all children (n= 1 764) between 7-12 years that were investigated for suspected exposure to violence by CWS in Sweden in 2019. This cohort was systematically compared to demographic data and a national self-report prevalence study. 

Results: Children exposed to violence have reduced access to material resources and inferior living conditions compared to non-exposed children. Physical abuse was more prevalent among boys of foreign backgrounds in stable, two-parent families residing in higher-status suburbs. Conversely, neglect was more common among children of Swedish backgrounds in low-income, single-parent households living in low-status suburbs. In comparison with self-reported prevalence studies, sexual and psychological abuse seem underrepresented in the study group.

Conclusions: The results indicate that CWS should develop its methods to reach certain vulnerable groups that are underrepresented for safeguarding and support, for example, girls exposed to sexual abuse.

The article presents a study on structured support for the professional assessment of emergent domestic violence in families with children. Data are presented on the development and study of a new structured support called iRiSk emergency, which was developed jointly by the authors of this article, and an emergency social work unit in Stockholm, Sweden. The model was developed from the iRiSk model, which, translated from Swedish, stands for ‘Interventions and Risk and Protection Assessments for children exposed to violence’. Structured support for emergency risk assessments is rare as existing instruments mainly focus on screening for violence and are not designed to guide professionals in situations of identified violence. The purpose of the research project is elaborated through two research questions: (1) Which information is needed for emergency assessments, and how can it be collected? (2) What are the specific preconditions of the child welfare service emergency work to be taken into account in terms of emergency risk assessments? The feedback from the social workers was that iRiSk emergency was flexible to use, decreased the risk of missing important risk factors and made the assessments more child-centred. The model appears to be a viable approach for enhancing the systematic evaluation and testing of structured support for emergency risk assessment in social work, surpassing the limitations of the current study.

Rapporten fokuserar på implementeringen av modellen ”Efter barnförhöret” via det mobila teamet på Barnahus i Stockholms stad. Syftet med implementeringsstudien var att undersöka möjligheterna till att implementera en familjeorienterad krisinventionsmodell som Efter barnförhöret för att stödja barn och deras familjer efter ett polisförhör som rör våld i familjen. I projektet skulle fokus vara på genomförbarhet och användning av arbetsmodellen samt vilka organisatoriska och personella förutsättningar som främjar respektive hindrar implementeringen av arbetsmodellen. Befintligt dokumenterat material inhämtades i kombination med att intervjuer genomfördes under 2021-2022 med ledning och krisstödsteamets personal. I projektet framkom flera utmaningar som att få till ett jämt remissflöde, att kunna hantera situationer när det blir få respektive många barn och familjer som behöver stöd utifrån personalens arbetssituation. Vidare beskrev personalen behov av att få tid och resurser till utbildning och metodutveckling och ett behov av ett ökat stöd från ledningen.

Objective: The study explores risk assessment methods used in CWS investigations, and the impact of these instruments on documented risk factors, assessments of risk and need, and interventions offered. 

Methods: Data was drawn from the SAVE study 2023. 

Results: The risk assessment instrument may implact upon the riskfactors documented, and riskfactors were documented to a higher degree regarding children with a Swedish background, older children and children with known or suspected disabilities, and in relation to psychological violence to children including exposure to intimate partner violence. No clear links were found between documented risk factors, the overall assessment or the interventions offered.

Conclusions: The results indicate that there is a clear need practice improvement as regards research-based risk assessments in CWS investigations in cases of violence to children.

I föreliggande rapport redovisas resultat av en studie av hur tre kommuner hanterar socialnämndens ansvar för insatser på våldsområdet. Den undersöker hur kommunerna organiserar och genomför arbetet med att ge stöd till vuxna personer som utsatts för våld i nära relation respektive insatser till personer som utövar våld i nära relation. Studien genomfördes under åren 2020-2022 av forskare knutna till Institutionen för socialvetenskap vid Marie Cederschiöld högskola, inom ramen för det sexåriga forskningsprogrammet ”Samordnade interventionssystem mot våld i nära relationer” finansierat av Forte (2019-01492).

Resultaten pekar på betydelsen av särskilda enheter eller mottagningar inriktade på våld i nära relation för att säkra god kvalitet i kommunernas insatser. Samtidigt synliggör både brukares och personalens beskrivningar utmaningar i socialtjänstens arbete med våld i nära relationer. Dessa handlar om implikationer av socialtjänstens funktionsindelning och specialisering, komplexiteten i att komma ur våld i förhållande till begränsade resurser till stödet till våldsutsatta, särskilt sårbara våldsutsatta brukare och hur arbetet är anpassat till deras behov, samt problemet med att interventionssystemet kring våld i nära relationer tenderar att vara vuxencentrerat trots att det finns minderåriga barn i familjen de flesta fall av våld i nära relationer som socialtjänsten kommer i kontakt med.

Under 2021 och 2022 samarbetade socialjouren i Stockholms stad med Marie Cederschiöld högskola i ett pilotprojekt för att utveckla ett strukturerat och barncentrerat metodstöd för akuta risk- och skyddsbedömningar för våldsutsatta barn. Samarbetet initierades av socialjouren, med anledning av arbetet med Islandsmodellen i Stockholm. Den här rapporten redovisar genomförande och resultat från detta pilotprojekt, som alltså var ett första steg i utvecklingen av ett strukturerat stöd för professionella bedömningar av risk i akuta situationer av våld i familjer där det finns barn.

I denna rapport presenteras resultat från en pilotstudie där BRA-samtal för barn i ekonomisk utsatthet och osäkra boendeförhållanden införts och studerats i två olika kontexter: myndighetsutövande socialtjänst respektive skyddat boende. Studien genomfördes under perioden 2019-2022 med finansiering från Stiftelsen Stockholmsfonden. Studien visar att BRA-samtal som samtalsmodell betraktat är en användbar modell i möte med målgrupperna barn i ekonomisk utsatthet och osäkra boendeförhållanden inklusive skyddat boende. De synpunkter som framkommit om behov av vissa anpassningar i den version av modellen som prövats i projektet pekar på vikten av pågående utvecklingsarbete med att anpassa BRA-samtal till yngre barn. Medan modellen varit genomförbar i skyddat boende återstår det att pröva på vilket sätt BRA-samtal kan bli genomförbara inom ramen för myndighetsutövande socialtjänst.

Drawing on a register study of all children aged 7-12 (n=1 764) investigated due to exposure to violence in Stockholm 2019, this paper explores the orientation of the Swedish child welfare services and what this means for investigations regarding and services to children exposed to different forms of violence. Children were clustered into five groups and each group analyzed with binary logistic regressions, in relation to paths of referral, living conditions, family background and type, school grades and contacts with health care. The most common ground for investigation was violence in the family (including intimate partner violence), followed by physical abuse against the child. Children with a non-Swedish background were over-represented in the physically abused group, even when controlling for other variables. Other differences were also found, e.g. regarding paths of referral.