Children’s Rights to Participation, Protection and Provision

School and Child Protection Services Professionals’ Views on the school’s Mission and Responsibilities for Children Living with Domestic Violence – Tensions and Gaps

“…This becomes clear, not least, in the question of collaboration with other agencies, where, for example, confidentiality regulations often lead to major difficulties when looking to meet the various needs of the pupil. Previous research reveals that the staff at schools struggle to identify children living with domestic violence, and, having identified it, deciding how to act and cooperate within and between institutions (Bruno 2016;Dufva 2001;Eriksson et al 2013aEriksson et al , 2013bMünger and Markström 2018). The lack of cooperation on an institutional or organizational level within or between institutions may limit the opportunities of making visible the risks that these children encounter.…”

“…Various forms of intervention have been introduced into schools (Alexander et al 2005;Fox et al 2016;Turner et al 2017). These may involve, for example, educational programs that deal with domestic violence for both teachers and pupils, or programs intended to prevent such violence, and support and protect pupils from it (Hester 2006;Eriksson et al 2013aEriksson et al , 2013b. Other programs and methods are also available that may not be designed for use in cases of domestic violence.…”

“…Statistics for how many children are living with domestic violence in Sweden are not available, but it is thought that at least one in twenty children can be described as living with domestic violence every year (Annerbäck et al 2010), while 14% of the pupils in secondary schools and upper secondary schools reported that they had experienced violence between adults in the family (Jernbro and Jansson 2017). In Sweden, as in many other countries, the identification of these children is often a result of the family already being in contact with the child protection services (CPS) (Eriksson et al 2013a, 2013b. The CPS have the overall responsibility for child protection in Sweden.…”

“…School personnel experience issues of domestic violence as particularly difficult to manage (Alexander et al 2005;Eriksson et al 2013aEriksson et al , 2013b. Knowledge about how this area of problems can be identified, however, is lacking, and the ability of schools to satisfy the special requirements of children living with domestic violence is deficient (King and Scott 2014;Münger and Markström 2018).…”

Fathers’ narratives on support and agency: a case study of fathers in a Finnish child welfare NGO

“…Although these fathers are commonly encountered by child welfare and social workers, with a few exceptions (e.g. Bangura Arvidsson 2003;Storhaug 2013;Eriksson, Bruno and Näsman 2013) they have somewhat been neglected by the Nordic fatherhood and child welfare research community. For example, they are not included in the latest edited volume on Nordic fatherhood (Eydal and Rostgaard 2015; see also Bäck-Wiklund 2015).…”