Children looked after and their right to participation in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 12

Research has been done on children’s participation in review meetings, a method for reviewing foster and residential care. The method is tested within the national project Children’s Needs in Focus (BBIC) inspired by the British Integrated Children’s System and operated by the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) in Sweden. The objective of the evaluation, conducted on behalf of Socialstyrelsen, was to investigate frameworks and scope for – as well as the child’s experiences of – participation and joint decision making concerning planning, decision-making processes and review of arrangements. The overall issue propounded was linked to one of the aims of the development work: do review meetings contribute to strengthen the child’s position in accordance with the aims of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Social Services Act? The study included content analysis of 55 BBIC-forms, together with interviews with 11 children, 8 – 18 years old, 8 independent chairpersons and 11 social workers. One of the conclusions is that the framework and scope that is created for the child’s participation in reviews, within the BBIC project, provide the preconditions to strengthen the position of the child in accordance with the aims of the Social Services Act and the articles 3 and 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Barnavårdsutredningar på nya grunder

Since 1999 the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) has been piloting a project entitled “Children’s Needs in Focus” (BBIC). The aim of this development project is to develop a uniform system of assessing, planning and reviewing in social work with children. It is inspired by the Integrated Children’s System (ICS) in Great Britain and the Swedish Dartingtonproject. The British system has been adapted to Swedish conditions by Socialstyrelsen in collaboration with seven Swedish municipalities and municipal regions. This report presents an investigation of social workers opinions and their methods of conducting assessments of children in need according to BBIC. The study, conducted on behalf of Socialstyrelsen, is characterized as explorative and formative with elements of process-, purpose- and component evaluation. Qualitative methods have been used and the empirical study includes document analysis of 38 assessments and interviews with 15 social workers. The evaluation shows that the assessment forms have been tested to less extent than expected and in addition with different local and personal variations. The experiences are both positive and negative. More concentrated, more balanced, better structured, better founded, more clear and reliable assessments were mentioned in the interviews as positive experiences of BBIC as well as more clear assignments to foster carers and others with responsibility for treatment of the children and families. Technical problems, lack of time, training and support from managers as well as organisational changes and turnover of staff were mentioned as important obstacles for implementation. The forms were criticized for being too detailed, too time consuming to use and difficult to take in. The social workers feared that the assessments would be too ruled and administrative. The theoretical model, the “triangle” was, however, apprehended positive by all the interviewed social workers and it had been a part of the social workers knowledgebase. From a general point of view the assessment process had improved. Collaboration between the social services and schools had for example developed in a positive direction. The document analysis showed that children’s needs were well considered in accordance with the recommended structure. The children referred to had been observed or got the right to talk for themselves in relation to the social workers. The efforts to take children’s own perspectives into consideration were, however, seldom fulfilled in judgement and analysis. Another notification was that children’s needs were described more in terms of problems than in terms of developmental needs. The concluding estimation is that BBIC, from a general point of view, is on its way to fulfil the aims. Children’s rights are strengthened, assessments according to BBIC tend to be more structured and systematic than before and quality and the legal security are improved. The purpose of uniformity seems, however, a bit problematic with regard to the translations which have been done by the local organisations, managers and individual social workers. The Social Services Act (2001:453) is a goal oriented enabling act that is based on voluntary efforts and stipulates general guidelines for the municipalities concerning their social services obligations. This circumstance together with the local self government autonomy and the fact that Swedish social workers have a high degree of discretion are factors which could be of importance for the possibilities to reach full uniformity. Social workers need qualified education, training, support and time for reflection if they going to accept and carry out the fundamental changes demanded by BBIC

Barnperspektiv i den sociala barnavården. Forsknings- och utvecklingsarbete inom ramen för projekt Kunskapsbaserad socialtjänst

Abstract not availabl

Summing up - Batch 20 : Change Projects from the International Training Programme - Batch 20

Lund University has offered the Sida-financed International Training Programmeon Child Rights, Classroom and School Management since 2003. Theprogramme targets those in a position from which they can initiate processesof change in the education sector in their countries. During the programmeall participating teams initiate a change project in their respective countriesaiming at the realization of the intention of the Child Rights Convention inpolicy as well as in practice. This book contains the final reports from Batch20 with change agents from China, Colombia, DPR of Korea, Indonesia, Malawi,Mozambique, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Viet Nam, and Zambia

Child Rights, Classroom and School Management : Change Projects from the International Training Programme Batch 13 - 2010b

In 2003 Lund University Commissioned Education was given the task, after publictender, to create and administrate a programme on “Child Rights, Classroom andSchool Management” following the provisions and principles contained in the UNConvention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Sida’s development policy on Education and other internationally ratified instruments in the areas of child rights and education. The programme was oriented to target persons holding a position from where they could initiate processes of change in their home countries. During the years 2003-2009 the International Training Programme (ITP) on Child Rights, Classroom and School Management was arranged 11 times with 330 participants completing it. Most of them are still working for child rights in their countries and have formed national and regional networks. In 2010 Lund University Commissioned Education won the contract in a new procurement for arranging the programme twice a year 2010 - 2012 with an option for another two years. In 2010 the 12th and 13th batch started the redesigned programme and this book is one of the results of batch 13