Local translations of a universal concept: ‘Child Perspective’ in Swedish social assistance

Pålsson, David; Wiklund, Stefan

doi:10.1111/chso.12420

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 21 publications

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“…Social assistance in Sweden is administered by the municipalities and provides means-tested income to people struggling to sustain themselves or their families. While a minimum standard social assistance rate exists, municipalities have discretion in determining the meaning of the two aims of social assistance: to provide recipients with a reasonable standard of living and to support them to (again) become economically self-sufficient (Pålsson and Wiklund 2021). Swedish social assistance payments have been estimated to amount to around 20% of the national median income, which is below the relative poverty line of 60% as used by the EU (Johansson 2019, as cited in Pålsson and Wiklund 2021: 414).…”

Section: Income Support Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Resilience with Families: National Report for Sweden

Daly,

Backman,

Nieuwenhuis

2023

Preprint

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This report presents the analysis of the primary research conducted in Sweden for Work Package 4 (WP4) of the rEUsilience project. The report’s underpinning evidence was obtained through seven focus groups conducted with 38 members of families in different parts of Sweden between May and June 2023. The research provides profound insights into the challenges facing families and how they seek to overcome these challenges. The families were found to be faced with a series of risks, with problems relating to income, employment and care intersecting together and with other background difficulties. Insecurity emerged as an important defining feature of participants’ lives. A lot of people's worries were centred on their children's quality of life and being able to afford child-related expenses. As well as money, time was a scarce resource for some people. This led to emphasis on work-life balance as one of the challenges facing families – by which was meant especially time for family life and child-related activities. Lone parents especially expressed a sense of being differentially treated and indicated that there was a general lack of recognition of their particular challenges and needs. The particular difficulties in the situation of immigrants also came out very strongly from the evidence. Pressure to conform was strongly felt and it was clear that some did not feel included or were unable to be included because of their circumstances. Moreover, support networks seemed fragile. People showed considerable resourcefulness and even creativity in managing their situations. It was clear that they used a wide range of behaviours and skills, including cognitive skills and behavioural and attitudinal change management. Participants were critical of service availability, especially childcare services, health services and housing provision. In terms of what measures would help to significantly improve their situation, they prioritised better income support especially and also more person-oriented services. Those whose families had specific needs, for example a health-related need, spoke in favour of extending the family contact service. Childcare services and housing were also identified as areas needing improvement.

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Section: Income Support Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Resilience with Families: National Report for Sweden

Daly,

Backman,

Nieuwenhuis

2023

Preprint

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A Policy Decoupled from Practice: Children’s Participation in Swedish Social Assistance

Pålsson

Wiklund

2021

The British Journal of Social Work

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In many countries, there are calls for children to be allowed to participate in social work decision-making. This article analyses child participation vis-à-vis social assistance (SA), which is a municipal cash benefit representing the last safety net. In Sweden, SA is part of the professional field of social work and national policy recommends that children are consulted. The aim is to analyse local policies and practices regarding child participation, and the data are based on case studies in six social service offices. Unlike most participation studies, children’s participation is conceived as an institutional pressure and the concept of decoupling is used to examine how local authorities relate to participation. The findings show that in local policies there is a general openness towards participation, but in practice no efforts are being made to promote participation. The absence of participation is analysed as deriving from organisational barriers (practices are adult-centred and child welfare units are seen as responsible for participation) and the scepticism of social workers (participation is an infringement on parental obligations and children should be protected from involvement in financial issues). The article ends with a discussion on the decoupling and adequacy of children’s participation in settings comparable with Swedish SA.

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Court Cases on Poor Children’s Access to Normalcy

Näsman

Fernqvist

2022

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Poverty in childhood is associated with an increased risk of being marginalised and socially excluded, which is also the case in the Swedish welfare state. Poor parents often strive for their children to fit in among same‐aged children, which is difficult for the poorest to accomplish. As the last resort for the poor, the welfare state offers the opportunity to apply for financial aid, but applications may be rejected. Parents can then appeal the rejections to an administrative court. In these decisions, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child could be applied or referred to. The convention has been incorporated into Swedish law since 2020. This article is grounded in childhood sociology and aims to show how poor children, their needs, and rights are processed in the legal system, which sets the framework for the children’s access to material conditions needed for inclusion in a welfare state such as Sweden. The presentation is based on a qualitative content analysis of administrative court records concerning financial aid appeals. The results show that the appeal process confirms the adult orientation of financial aid and that a child rights perspective is, with few exceptions, missing in these records. When children are mentioned, a care perspective dominates and their right to participation is neglected.

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Local translations of a universal concept: ‘Child Perspective’ in Swedish social assistance

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 4 publications

References 21 publications

Exploring Resilience with Families: National Report for Sweden

Exploring Resilience with Families: National Report for Sweden

A Policy Decoupled from Practice: Children’s Participation in Swedish Social Assistance

Court Cases on Poor Children’s Access to Normalcy

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