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Children who have parents with any kind of illness may become young carers who take a responsibility not expected of children for household tasks, or personal or emotional care for parents and siblings. So far, little is known about children in Sweden who are at risk of becoming young carers. The aim of this article is therefore to explore the extent and impact of children's caring activities as reported in a pilot study by a sample of children in Sweden. A number of international questionnaires measuring the amount of caring activities, impact of caring, quality of life, and psychological well‐being were translated and combined into a survey. The pilot survey was completed by 30 children 10–18 years of age. Also, when completing the survey, the children were interviewed concerning their experiences of caregiving. The participants report on a group level emotional symptoms such as fear and nervousness above the clinical cut‐off value. They also rate a lower level of caring compared with findings from the United Kingdom, but they report a higher degree of negative impact of caring than young carers in the United Kingdom.

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In recent years, educational systems in Europe have experienced a rise in the number of immigrant youth. The experiences of immigrant youth facing the challenges of an unfamiliar educational system is of continuous relevance in youth studies. This article aims to explore the schooling experiences of 19 immigrant youth in Sweden, focusing on the institutional obstacles they encounter as students in the national educational system. It draws on semistructured interviews with immigrant youth attending upper secondary school or preparing for it by taking transitional classes. Findings are that familiarity with the majority culture, how the educational system works and how to use the majority language for learning purposes in Sweden constitute crucial knowledge for progress in upper secondary education. However, immigrant students state they have not been adequately prepared for these demands in their transitional classes. The authors suggest acknowledging students' cultural backgrounds and argue for allowing English parallel to Swedish as a transnational language of communication during a transition period, thereby improving students' chances of having their embodied cultural capital validated in the upper secondary school system.

The austerity measures in social welfare implemented by street-level bureaucrats in their practice are changing the direction of social policy. This article examines the strategies used by public officials in implementing austerity measures in needs assessment for personal assistance in Sweden. The article is based on a document study with N = 100 records of needs assessment for personal assistance for persons with serious functional disabilities. Findings show that the public officials at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency either limit or extend their discretion as a strategy, as well as use weak warrants as strong warrants in recommending decisions. Other strategies involve the organisational logic, fragmentation of the content in the needs assessment and division of work among the public officials. Implementing the costcutting goals causes severe consequences for persons with disabilities who bear the brunt by being excluded from participation in society. The social policy values of fifty years, emphasising the right to equal participation in society, are traded for economic austerity goals.