Children’s participation and the outcome of care in Swedish child and family welfare: Building a model for regional development work

Description

There is a lack of research both on the process that leads to the social services' assessment of assistance and on the interventions that help vulnerable children. One part of the study examines how child participation affects the intervention offered to the child, which is studied in 12 municipalities of different sizes and with different conditions. There is currently no knowledge about which interventions help children living with a lack of care at home. An important contribution is the design of a method to measure the outcome of interventions, based on a child rights perspective and children's own estimates, where the starting point is - unlike previous influential studies - that vulnerable children should receive protection and support here and now.

If there is to be a change towards a child rights-based approach, it needs to come from the organization, says project leader Maria Heimer. We are therefore developing a model for change management in close collaboration with the profession, so that the work is relevant to the organization and the model is spread around the country. The model can be applied in different types of municipalities, including those with fewer opportunities to undertake development work.