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In Sweden, social workers in social services have the discretion to decide whether or not to disclose information to the police in work with juvenile crime prevention. Thereby, they face a conflict between the obligation to keep client information confidential and the obligation to cooperate with the police. This article examined descriptions of information sharing, in policy documents and interviews with social services management, social workers and police officers in a medium-sized municipality. Thematic content analysis, through the lens of neo-institutionalism, was used. The results showed that cooperation with the police, social workers’ scope of discretion and clients’ trust all were seen as important. However, the concept of cooperation was described as vague, and client confidentiality was seen as the most important objective. The conclusions of this study indicate that social workers can be assumed to oppose using discretion in ways not congruent with the clients’ care needs.

In Sweden, social workers in social services have the discretion to decide whether or not to disclose information to the police in work with juvenile crime prevention. Thereby, they face a conflict between the obligation to keep client information confidential and the obligation to cooperate with the police. This article examined descriptions of information sharing, in policy documents and interviews with social services management, social workers and police officers in a medium-sized municipality. Thematic content analysis, through the lens of neo-institutionalism, was used. The results showed that cooperation with the police, social workers’ scope of discretion and clients’ trust all were seen as important. However, the concept of cooperation was described as vague, and client confidentiality was seen as the most important objective. The conclusions of this study indicate that social workers can be assumed to oppose using discretion in ways not congruent with the clients’ care needs.

Since parental reunification is the goal for most Swedish children in foster care, it is normally important to maintain contact with parents. However, sometimes a foster child’s best interests may be to stay in the foster home through a transfer of custody. This study set out to identify the legal principles that emerge when courts interpret a foster child’s best interests. A theoretical framework of normative legalism and psychology was used. The study shows that attachment theory often is emphasized in the legal material, and that precedents means there are a great many legal principles of relevance when a fosterchild’s best interest is to be assessed. Some of these principles are flexible, whereas other principles might collide. The conclusion of the article is that the occurrence of the word attachment in assessments and legal texts may not always refer to the psychological attachment theory. The results also suggest that actions of the authorities are not scrutinized, and that courts often give preference to the authorities’ interpretation of situations.

This study conducts an analysis of the rights in article 8 of the ECHR and the application of the proportionality principle when Swedish care orders may be regarded as a necessary interference in family life. The study has been based on an interdisciplinary approach. Text documents were studied through socio-legal methods and perspectives, by combining knowledge from legal sources and social sciences research through a content analysis derived from formal and substantive legal certainty. The article concludes that reasoning in Swedish administrative courts should routinely consider proportionality in cases of neglect, and sets out to sketch a theoretical framework for the principle of proportionality in decisions on care orders. The results show that, since decisions in child welfare cases cannot be made completely uniform and predictable, the focus of decisions in social child welfare work must be to satisfy the objectives and values of substantive legal certainty, instead of unrealistically striving for formal legal certainty through equal treatment and predictability. The results also show that, by requiring those who exercise public authority to present their assessments based on proportionality, new demands are made for the quality and efficiency of involuntary out-of-home placements. Child welfare investigations should nowadays include impact assessments that clarify the advantages and disadvantages of the care in relation to the risk of harm from the original home conditions. Abuse and neglect in out-of-home placements will therefore be of growing importance in decisions on care orders in the future.

Swedish schools are required to counteract degrading treatment. If the school staff fails to counteract properly, damage might be claimed. The aim of this study was to examine the Education Act and to perform a qualitative content analysis of descriptions of countermeasures in 16 cases of peer abuse reported to the School Inspectorate. A framework of legal sociology was used. The results show that the requirements of countermeasures in the Education Act are vague. The results also show that the school staff and the reporting parents had divergent perceptions of what had happened. They could therefore not agree on what countermeasures should have been taken. The reporting parents described every measure that was unsuccessful as inadequate. The school staff, on the other hand, described measures that seemed to have been the best possible options as good enough, even though the abuse had not actually been stopped. It is argued that school staff needs competence and resources to counteract peer abuse more than they need an increase in rules and administrative procedures.

Den svenska Skollagen innehåller inga bestämmelser om mobbning utan ålägger skolverksamheter att motverka kränkningar oavsett frekvens och omfattning. Arbetet mot kränkningar ska genom att kränkningen anmäls till skolans huvudman, varefter händelsen utreds och åtgärder vidtas. Lagstiftningen kan förefalla ställa höga krav på skolverksamheter och i den politiska debatten talas ofta om att det i skolan ska råda nolltolerans mot kränkningar. Det har emellertid anförts att lagstiftningen vare sig rättsligt sett uttrycker, eller har faktiska förutsättningar att åstadkomma, en sådan nolltolerans. I denna studie undersöks berörda aktörers beskrivningar av kränkningsmotverkande åtgärder i ett kvalitativt urval av 16 ärenden om kränkningar mellan barn hos Barn- och Elevombud (BEO) vid Skolinspektionen. Undersökningen utfördes genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys baserad på rättssociologiska utgångspunkter. Resultatet visar att skolpersonalen och de anmälande föräldrarna hade olika uppfattningar om vad som hade hänt och att de därför hade svårt att enas om vilka åtgärder som borde ha vidtagits. Anmälarna menade att åtgärder som hade vidtagits men som inte hade inneburit att kränkningarna upphörde per definition var otillräckliga. Skolpersonalen beskrev däremot åtgärder som vid den aktuella tidpunkten hade framstått som det bästa alternativet som tillräckliga oavsett faktisk effektivitet. I skolverksamheternas svaromål beskrevs därför framför allt att personalen hade gjort så gott som de hade kunnat, varvid skadeståndsskyldighet inte förelåg. Anmälarna förefaller däremot främst ha varit ute efter att få upprättelse genom att det fastslogs att skolverksamheten hade gjort fel. BEO:s beslut var ofta en kompromiss mellan dessa synsätt genom att skadeståndskyldighet inte ansågs föreligga samtidigt som skolpersonalen i 14 av de 16 fallen hade gjort olika typer av smärre fel. Undersökningens visar på att det behövs bedömningsstrategier för klarläggande av sådant som upprepning och maktobalans i samband med till synes ömsesidigt aggressiva beteenden i svenska skolor.

Vid omhändertaganden av barn ska barnets bästa vara avgörande för de beslut som fattas. I den praktiska tillämpningen innefattar begreppet ofta tolkningar av barns behov, såsom dessa definieras av kompetenta vuxna, och barnets vilja, såsom denna uttrycks av barnet eller uttolkas av vuxna. I denna studie undersöks uttrycken barns behov och vilja samt hur barns behov och vilja bedöms i sociala utredningar och domar som rör tvångsomhändertaganden till följd av omsorgssvikt av barn i familjer där någon förälder har intellektuell funktionsnedsättning.