The purpose of this study has been to investigate and analyze what characterizes the group of unaccompanied youth who are referred to the Swedish secure care system (The National Board of Institutional Care), what causes the referrals and what charac-terizes the care in the secure care units, and how unaccompanied youth themselves perceive and understand both the referrals and the care. This has been investigated th-rough statistical analysis of SiS documentation and register data, interviews with SiS staff and social service staff, as well as interviews with unaccompanied youth referred to secure care.

The results show that unaccompanied youth are a heterogeneous group with a wide range of problems, and problems that partly differ compared to other youth referred to SiS. One the one hand, unaccompanied youth are perceived to have less extensive social problems compared to other youth in secure care, but on the other hand some have both heavier and more complex problems that have occurred for several years. The latter group is often referred to the specific category called “street kids”. The unaccompanied youth are also perceived to have more mental health and migration related problems in addition to limited understanding of the Swedish society.

The study indicates that both SiS and the social services have organizational limita-tions to meet the needs of unaccompanied youth, and that these limitations lead to con-flicts about how the problems should be defined, and which organization should have the main responsibility for the care of unaccompanied youth.

The study highlights differences both within and between the secure care units re-garding the staff’s expressed views and attitudes towards unaccompanied youth. The study indicates the importance of the management’s values and norms, and how they support common and professional approaches in the daily work with unaccompanied youth. SiS staff highlights language barriers as a significant obstacle in the work with unaccompanied youth, but they also provide strategies for overcoming these barriers through conscious communication and trust building approaches, and the recruitment of multilingual staff, Swedish education and translation of treatment programs.

Powerlessness and the unknown future, together with the lack of freedom, appear to be the most difficult part of the SiS placement for unaccompanied youth. Although edu-cation and regular school activities seem to be the most helpful support, school within SiS is also perceived as not a “real” school, because of too few teachers and subjects. The significance of the SiS care can be understood as linked to both relational aspects and treatment content, but also to relations, or lack thereof, outside SiS. In both staff and youth interviews, lack of supportive and trustful relations in addition to repeated break-ups from both professionals and other social contexts are highlighted as proble-matic for the unaccompanied youth referred to secure care. Compared to all secure care referrals, unaccompanied youth were more often acutely referred to SiS and a large proportion of the acute unit placements exceeded the SiS gui-delines for maximum care time in acute care units. Acute unit placements mean longer and indefinite time in secure care. For youth without a residence permit, the uncertain-ty that comes with the asylum process is also added to their uncertain life situation. The language barrier and lack of knowledge about Swedish rules and norm system also re-duces these young people’s ability to understand what is happening in their life, which increases their vulnerability in the secure care situation.

Syftet med den här studien har varit att undersöka och analysera vad som kännetecknar gruppen ensamkommande ungdomar som placeras inom Statens institutionsstyrelse (SiS), vad som föranleder dessa placeringar och kännetecknar insatserna från SiS, samt hur ensamkommande ungdomar själva uppfattar och förstår placeringen. Detta har undersökts genom analys av befintlig dokumentation inom SiS, intervjuer med personal från socialtjänst och SiS, samt med SiS-placerade ensamkommande ungdomar.

Resultaten visar att ensamkommande ungdomar som placeras på SiS är en heterogen grupp med stor spännvidd i problemens karaktär och omfattning, och att problemen delvis skiljer sig från andra SiS-placerade ungdomar. Inom gruppen ensamkommande ungdomar fanns både de som uppfattades ha mindre omfattande sociala problem än andra SiS-placerade ungdomar, och ungdomar som beskrevs ha en tyngre och mer komplex problematik. Till den senare gruppen nämndes ofta "gatubarn" som definierad kategori. Som specifikt för de ensamkommande ungdomarna framhölls också mer "psykiatrisk" och migrationsrelaterad problematik, samt att dessa ungdomar har liten kunskap om det svenska samhället.

Studien tyder på att både SiS och socialtjänsten har svårigheter med att organisatoriskt möta de ensamkommande ungdomarnas behov inom ramen för befintlig verksamhet, samt att detta lett till konflikter om hur problemen ska definieras och vilken organisation som ska bära det huvudsakliga ansvaret för att praktiskt ta hand om dem.

Syftet med artikeln är att analysera organisering av och synen på mottagandet av ensamkommande barn inom socialtjänsten våren 2016 – en tidpunkt då antalet asylsökande ensamkommande barn nyligen nått en extrem omfattning under kort tid. Artikeln baseras på en totalundersökning (enkät) av socialtjänstens resurser, organisering och insatser i arbetet med ensamkommande barn och ungdomar. Resultatet visar att trots en statlig ambition om normalisering och integrering av mottagandet i den sociala barnavården, har en tydlig respons från socialtjänsten varit att specialisera verksamheten utifrån den ökande klientgruppen. Den här studien ger inget belägg för att specialiseringen lett till bättre kvalitet, tvärtom indikeras ett positivt samband mellan kvalitet och en integrerad organisation. Främst tyder studien på att resurser, övergripande samverkan och engagerade politiker har varit viktigt för hur man inom socialtjänsten uppfattar möjligheten att anpassa stödinsatser efter behov och att följa upp insatser. Noterbart med tanke på tidpunkten för studien är att  en majoritet av respondenterna (företrädesvis chefer inom socialtjänstens verksamhet för ensamkommande barn) var förhållandevis nöjda med det stöd som erbjöds till ensamkommande barn/ungdomar, dock påtalades brister i möjlighet att följa upp och tillgång till insatser som matchar målgruppens behov.

Sweden is known for its well-developed welfare state and a large public sector, yet the role of social work academics in formulating and reforming social policy is still fairly unknown. This study aimed to investigate Swedish social work faculty members' engagement in social policy processes. To what extent and in what activities of social policy engagement had they been involved? How did they perceive their impact on policy makers and their role in the social policy process? An online survey was administered to all social work faculty members in the 17 social work schools in Sweden (n = 283, response rate 44%). The results show that the overall engagement in policy-related issues was low. In a previous comparison between 12 countries, faculty members in Sweden and China reported the lowest engagement. For 18 out of 20 activities listed, only between 1 and 8 percent had frequently been involved. Between 44 and 92 percent answered that they never had participated in these activities. The background to this low engagement and the implications for students' knowledge, interest and future engagement in policy processes as means to address social justice and human rights as part of their professional social work practice are discussed.

The number of unaccompanied minors arriving in Sweden has grown rapidly in recent years and the care of these children has become a significant part of the Swedish child welfare system. In this article, we discuss what has happened to the residential care market (known as HVB for short) in which most of these children are placed by the municipal social services. The specific questions we seek to illuminate are: Which type of residential care actors have expanded their operations? Have new actors entered the residential care market for unaccompanied minors? How can we understand changes in the residential care market in the current situation? The study is based upon the Health and Social Care Inspectorate’s registry of all licensed residential care units in Sweden. We compare data for all residential care units that targeted unaccompanied minors in 2014 with an updated register from March 2016. The residential care units are categorized based on organizational type (municipal, large and small private companies, municipal entrepreneurs, and non-profit organizations) and the article illustrates the composition of organizational type. The results show that despite the growing need for residential care for unaccompanied minors, the composition of organizational type has not changed significantly since 2014. However, the number of beds for unaccompanied minors is higher than for traditional HVBs, and it has increased between 2014 and 2016. The study also indicates that the composition of residential care for unaccompanied minors differs from the residential care market for other groups of children and young people. 

I denna studie undersöker vi med hjälp av enkätdata hur deltagarna vid Jobb­torgen i Stockholms stad ser på sin situation som arbetslösa och vilken hjälp och stöd de anser att de får av coacher och socialsekreterare. Vi fokuserar på gruppen utrikes födda, då bortfallet bland svenskfödda är stort. Vi under­söker även hur coacher och socialsekreterare ser på Jobbtorgen samt varandras arbete med arbetslösa försörjningsstödstagare.

En analys av svaren visar att deltagarna anser sig ha en svag ställning på arbetsmarknaden. De allra flesta uppger att de söker aktivt efter jobb, men att de inte har haft något jobb på länge (eller kanske aldrig). De tror att deras chanser att få ett arbete inom kort är små. Majoriteten av de svarande del­tagarna tycker att aktiviteten de deltar i är dålig och skulle hellre delta i någon annan aktivitet. Även om många tror att Jobbtorget kan hjälpa dem att få ett jobb, skulle de hellre söka jobb via Arbetsförmedlingen eller på egen hand. De deltagare som träffar sin coach relativt ofta och uppger att samarbetet med denne fungerar bra är mer positiva till den aktivitet de deltar i och tror i större utsträckning att Jobbtorget kan hjälpa dem att hitta ett arbete.