Utländsk bakgrund och tungt narkotikamissbruk : en kartläggning av levnadsförhållanden

The aim of this study is to investigate the living conditions during child- and adulthood among people of foreign origin who are registered by the Department of Social Services in Stockholm as problematic consumers of narcotics. The results are compared to a control group, which is matched on a number of essential variables but consists exclusively of individuals who are not registered as problematic consumers of narcotics. The research questions studied are: What were the living conditions of the study group during child- and adulthood? What differences, in terms of living conditions, can be found between the study group and the control group? Are problematic consumers of narcotics primarily recruited from ethnic minority groups from certain parts of the world and if so, can this be correlated to differences in living conditions between the various minority groups? To answer these questions, information about the study group has been collected from the Department of Social Services in Stockholm, as well as from Statistics Sweden (SCB), The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (BRÅ) and The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen). Information about the control group has been collected from the same registers with the exception of the registers owned by the Department of Social Services. The results show that the individuals of the study group have experienced poor living conditions in both childhood and adulthood to a greater extent than those oft the control group, and that the differences are statistically significant. During childhood, it was more common among individuals in the study group to have parents who had little education, were unemployed, received social benefits, had been convicted of a crime and/or imprisoned, or who had been hospitalised for a psychiatric condition or for problematic consumption of alcohol or drugs. It was also more common for the individuals in the study group to have low education. As adults, the individuals in the study group had more often been unemployed, received social benefits, been convicted of a crime and/or imprisoned, or been hospitalised for a psychiatric condition or for problematic consumption of alcohol or drugs. The results also revealed that there was a correlation between region of origin and living conditions for the control group. Individuals who originated from non-European countries had more often experienced more adverse living conditions as adults than individuals who originated from European countries. Individuals who originated from non-European countries were also more likely to have been raised by parents who were unemployed or who received social benefits. These factors indicate that people of non-European heritage generally have poorer living conditions in Sweden. No such correlation between region of origin and living conditions was observed for the study group. Instead, the individuals in the study group had experienced adverse conditions irrespective of their origin. This indicates that the individuals who have become problematic consumers were amongst the most vulnerable members of each group

Managing social work : Organisational conditions and everyday work for managers in the Swedish social services

The personal social services in Sweden have undergone major changes during recent decades, partly due to the reforms caused by the influence of New Public Management (NPM) and partly due to the trend towards greater specialisation. These changes have had consequences for both social work management and for social work practice. The consequences for practice have gained attention both from research and from the field, but the consequences for managers have rarely been discussed. In this thesis therefore, the attention is directed towards the managers. Inspired by a mixed methods approach, this thesis aims to explore the personal social service managers’ perceptions of their organisational conditions and the content of their everyday work, as well as to interpret the managers’ experiences against the background of NPM influence, increasing specialisation and the specific circumstances that come with managing politically governed organisations. The results show that the personal social service managers in general were former professionals with extensive social work experience. The managerial work was to a great extent perceived as reactive, entailing constant interruptions and acute situations. The managers experienced a heavy workload that appeared to prevent them from engaging in strategic work and leadership to the extent that they would have liked. Substantial proportions of managers were dissatisfied with their own levels of influence compared to that of politicians and, in general, the managers perceived themselves to have more influence regarding aspects that were operational (such as methods and working procedures) compared to aspects related to organisational structure. Through the managers’ descriptions of their relations with politicians, it was revealed that the roles could be muddled, and that both managers and politicians could have difficulties in distinguishing between politics and administration, or politics and profession. Several changes that could be attributed to the influence of NPM were described by the managers. Some changes had consequences for the more technical side of management, e.g. decentralised budget responsibility, increased focus on cost effectiveness and downsizing of support functions. Other changes were more related to the overarching concept of management, which had consequences for the choice of managerial training, the expectations placed on the managers, and to some extent the managers’ own views on what good management should be. Despite the many indications of changes that may be attributed to NPM, an important result in this thesis is that NPM does not appear to have permeated social work to the degree that might have been expected. Rather, there are clear indications of a remaining professional identity among managers on all managerial levels, as well a continuing bureau-professional regime within the personal social services

Stability and change in the field of residential care for children : On ownership structure, treatment ideas and institutional logics

The field of residential care for children and youth in Sweden is often termed unstable and turbulent. During recent decades the field has been subject to many changes. In this study, the development and changes in the field of residential care for children and youth in terms of ownership structure and treatment ideas will be analysed. The study is particularly focused on the changes in ownership structure that have taken place during the 2010s. It also analyses changes in treatment ideas, and discusses how these may relate to transformations of ownership structures as well as to dimensions of institutional logics, such as legislation and other types of normative pressure from the environment. The result reveals that of the approximately 450 treatment oriented residential care units (excluding homes for refugee children), close to 80 % are today run by private companies and to a growing extent by large for-profit corporations. Parallel – and possibly related – to the changes in ownership structure, the dominant treatment ideas have changed over time. The changes in the field can be summarised as a transformation from small-scale establishments with a family logic, to large-scale establishments with a professional logic, or more specifically from a domination of small family run units with milieu therapy to big business and a focus on evidence based interventions

A Crisis in Swedish Child Welfare? On Risk, Control and Trust

In recent decades, Swedish out-of-home care has been criticised for a number of reasons. In this article, based on research and public debate, we discuss this criticism as well as the institutional responses that have been evoked. We use the concepts of risk, control and trust to structure the analysis, which outlines three core issues portrayed as problematic: a) certain principles of the Swedish child welfare system with relevance for the placement of children and adolescence, b) the quality of out-of-home care and c) the privatisation of out-of-home care and the possibility of generating profits on such services. The institutional response to the criticism has mainly been increased control measures, but the development is not uniform - trust and control-oriented responses are often combined. We conclude the article by relating Swedish out-of-home care to international child welfare trends, discussing the institutional responses and the implications for social work practice

A professional field? Educational attainments, gender and age among staff in Swedish residential care

In this article, we discuss residential staff in Sweden. Here, residential care is part of the municipal child welfare system, which covers services targeting juvenile delinquency as well as other residential care services. Children and young people placed in Swedish residential care have diverse needs, from mainly supportive needs to advanced behavioral problems, and the field consists of open and secure residential care units. There is limited knowledge about the staff working in residential care. This article helps to fill this knowledge gap by giving an overall picture of staff educational attainments, age and gender in Swedish residential care between the years of 2008–2020. To reason about staff qualifications, we use theoretical concepts from sociological theory on professions. Findings show that residential care in Sweden can be analyzed as a pre- professional field, dominated by staff with low levels of educa-tion. In addition, we show that the field is dominated by women – even if the proportion of men is higher than in other areas of social work – and that the majority of staff are between 30 and 64 years old. Some differences between open and secure residential care were found, the most notable concerning edu-cational levels and gender

Impression management in the market for residential care for children and youth in Sweden

In what has become quite a turbulent quasi‐market for residential care for children and youth, providers now compete for public contracts. To create visibility and attract customers, many providers use marketing activities to project the desired impression of themselves to maintain or strengthen their market position. In this article, we analyse how companies that provide residential care for children manage the impressions they project on their websites and in advertisements. The results reveal that residential care providers use a range of impression management strategies to enhance their organizational image and to respond to potentially damaging or threatening images. The information providers choose to disclose leaves customers—in this case, the social workers responsible for choosing and purchasing care on behalf of clients—with rather limited opportunities to evaluate the quality of care. This is a significant problem considering other, more reliable, sources of information are difficult to access

Privatisation of residential care for children and youth in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden

Few studies have investigated the privatisation of residential care for children and youth, and no studies have compared, mapped, and discussed the care markets that have developed in the Nordic countries. Here, we map and discuss the role of providers of residential care for children and youth in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In addition, we explore the driving forces behind the current situation in these countries. Although these countries have significant level of privatisation, they have several differences in terms of the participation of the public sector and how market shares are divided between, for example, for-profit companies and non-profit organisations. These differences are discussed as a result of the historical positions, for example, of non-profit organisations as well as differences in the way the countries adapted New Public Management and procurement regulations