Ifrågasatta fäder : Olika bilder av fäder till socialt utsatta barn
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation deals with fathers of children subjected to child welfare investigations. They are "fathers called into question" and their fatherhood is not very much investigated so far. The dominating picture is that the fathers are absent, to their children as well as in research and social work literature. Two Swedish contexts are presented. These represent different interpretations of "the best interest of the child". Both are of importance to the social services' image of fathers called into question. The first context is about social policy and gives prominence to fathers as emotionally important for their children. The other context is about child welfare where children sometimes have to be protected from their fathers. The aims of the thesis are to examine 1) the images of fathers and the relationship to their children expressed in case files; 2) the images of fathers and the relationship to their children expressed in interviews with administrative social workers; 3) fathers' own experiences of the social services, their perspectives of fatherhood and the relationship to their children. I have examined 40 case files, interviewed 13 social workers at two social welfare offices, and interviewed 19 fathers. In the case files the image of fathers stands out as fragmented, but from the information available it was evident that fathers were recognized as important for children. By involving fathers in the child welfare investigation and documenting it, the social workers could argue that they live up to what is expected from them according to the general discourse of fatherhood in social policy, namely to strengthen fathers' relationship to their children. However, in cases where the fathers did not have custody of their children the social workers could use their own discretion to decide whether fathers should be contacted or not. In the interviews with the social workers the image of the fathers was characterized by an ambiguity between the various interpre…
abstract: This dissertation deals with fathers of children subjected to child welfare investigations. They are "fathers called into question" and their fatherhood is not very much investigated so far. The dominating picture is that the fathers are absent, to their children as well as in research and social work literature. Two Swedish contexts are presented. These represent different interpretations of "the best interest of the child". Both are of importance to the social services' image of fathers called into question. The first context is about social policy and gives prominence to fathers as emotionally important for their children. The other context is about child welfare where children sometimes have to be protected from their fathers. The aims of the thesis are to examine 1) the images of fathers and the relationship to their children expressed in case files; 2) the images of fathers and the relationship to their children expressed in interviews with administrative social workers; 3) fathers' own experiences of the social services, their perspectives of fatherhood and the relationship to their children. I have examined 40 case files, interviewed 13 social workers at two social welfare offices, and interviewed 19 fathers. In the case files the image of fathers stands out as fragmented, but from the information available it was evident that fathers were recognized as important for children. By involving fathers in the child welfare investigation and documenting it, the social workers could argue that they live up to what is expected from them according to the general discourse of fatherhood in social policy, namely to strengthen fathers' relationship to their children. However, in cases where the fathers did not have custody of their children the social workers could use their own discretion to decide whether fathers should be contacted or not. In the interviews with the social workers the image of the fathers was characterized by an ambiguity between the various interpre…
author: Bangura Arvidsson, Maria
language: swe
keywords: Social Work, Vulnerable children, Social problems and welfare, national insurance, Sociala problem, Fathers called into question, Absent Fathers, social välfärd, socialförsäkring
date published: 2003
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:00:02Z
provider: University of Lund
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: School of Social Work, Lund University