The characteristics and extent of child abuse: findings from a study of the Swedish Social Services child protection

Linell, Hanna

doi:10.1080/13691457.2016.1188774

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This analysis is aligned with previous research indicating that severe physical violence and neglect is often required in order for children to gain protection (Leviner, 2014;Linell, 2017;Östberg 2010). What the excerpts above also suggest is that symptoms of such violence need to be seen and validated by professionals to be believed or documented in medical or school records -in biocartographies and the biopolitical administration of life, health, well-being and development (Foucault, 2008;Wells, 2011).…”

Section: Biocartographiessupporting

confidence: 86%

“…In the field of child welfare and protection, evidence may refer to the citation of testimonies, police reports and other documentations. Perceived difficulty in providing proof, or what I here call evidencing children’s exposure to violence and other problems, has been presented as a possible reason for the cautious approach of Swedish child welfare and protection services, and for authorities not intervening (Linell, 2017; Ponnert, 2007). This applies to the context addressed in this study, namely the Care of Young Persons Act (sv.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Speaking bodies – silenced voices: Child protection and the knowledge culture of ‘evidencing’

Knezevic

2020

Global Studies of Childhood

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Using the metaphors body and voice and drawing on critical contributions on biopolitics, this article interrogates children’s participation rights in a knowledge culture of ‘evidencing’. With child welfare and protection practice as an empirical example, I analyse written assessment reports from a Swedish child welfare agency, all exemplifying how social workers evidence needs for protection and reasons for removing children from the home. I discuss how ‘evidencing’ equals a knowledge culture of seeing-believing and predicting-believing and the search for visibly damaged bodies and underdeveloped minds. I furthermore problematise how such conceptualisation of evidencing foregrounds children’s ‘speaking’ bodies while silencing their voices. By showing these manifestations of evidencing, this critical contribution discusses some wider epistemic concerns for fields influenced by the knowledge cultures of ‘the evidence-based’.

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Section: Biocartographiessupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speaking bodies – silenced voices: Child protection and the knowledge culture of ‘evidencing’

Knezevic

2020

Global Studies of Childhood

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“…As previously argued, this focus on health and development of children makes certain embodied vulnerabilities more recognisable than others. Physical injury, developmental damage, and ‘psychosomatically suffering’ children are often foregrounded (Knezevic, 2020a: 235; Linell, 2017; Östberg, 2010). I argue that time is essential for some of these signs to become visible.…”

Section: Time As a ‘Vulnerability Factor’mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From having been described as ‘ Kinder Gulag ’ and a child welfare and protection system that, in the gaze of other systems, seemed to lead to too frequent interventions (Cocozza and Hort, 2011), today researchers discuss how interventions in Swedish child welfare take place as a ‘reactive outcome’ to long ongoing problems (Leviner, 2014: 217; Östberg, 2010). Research about the Swedish child welfare services describes cautious approaches or not intervening soon enough (Cocozza and Hort, 2011; Leviner, 2014; Linell, 2017; Östberg, 2010). Thus, in parallel with more recent advocacy for early interventions in child welfare (see Featherstone et al, 2014; Wilson, 2002, for overviews), the temporal terminology used in Swedish social work and child welfare scholarship illustrates a scepticism among the social workers against compulsory care as a solution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social change in developmental times? On ‘changeability’ and the uneven timings of child welfare interventions

Knezevic¹

2020

Time & Society

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While temporality has been addressed in the context of child welfare, the temporal dimensions of differentiation and othering remain unacknowledged. This article draws on material from a Swedish child welfare agency and is theoretically inspired by postcolonial and queer theories and critical childhood studies. It is based on an analytical juxtaposition of care order applications recommending immediate child welfare interventions versus interventions that are recommended after long ongoing assessments. Such recommendations are addressed as unequal in terms of timing. The article discusses temporal themes related to permanency versus temporary, which guide assessments of changeability. I show how immediate interventions respond to chronicity—the temporality of incurability, permanency, and underdevelopment. However, social problems in long ongoing assessments are assessed as permanent only after long ongoing observations or passage of time. The article discusses how ideas about change reproduce wider societal and intersecting inequalities. This becomes visible when considering time as allocated to parents and their potential to bring about change. I argue that even though permanency differs from chronicity, it still limits a discussion about change as societal, and the detection of problems remains within a developmentalist and neoliberal framework. In the concluding remarks, I offer an alternative reading of allocated time that can manoeuvre developmentalist logics, while balancing responsibilisation between the individual and the society.

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“…The sample studied for this paper consists of the 137 for whom child abuse was described in the judgement. The categorization and context of the violence, the children's connections to the alleged abusers and the Court's decisions regarding care have been presented in a previous paper (Linell ).…”

Section: Background Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

The process of disclosing child abuse: a study of Swedish Social Services protection in child abuse cases

Linell

2015

Child & Family Social Work

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This paper presents findings from a study of judgements concerning 137 children (13–18 years) where protection by the Swedish Social Services was applied for. The paper explores the disclosure of physical, sexual and emotional child abuse including experiences of domestic violence and the process following a disclosure. A central finding is that the majority of children (71%) could be described as having intentionally disclosed the abuse. The findings also suggest that many of the children had come a long way in an emotional and cognitive process before the decision to disclose, and that disclosure was often made in conjunction with a decision to leave the alleged abusers. These findings support previous research suggesting children's intentional disclosure as an important predictor of decisions regarding alternative care. Another finding is that the process following the disclosure was described by the children as intensely challenging with active pressure and threats from relatives and feelings of fear, guilt and ambivalence. These findings have implications for both practice and research on how the safeguarding system can help children in the process of disclosure and protect those who do disclose.

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The characteristics and extent of child abuse: findings from a study of the Swedish Social Services child protection

Cited by 9 publications

References 12 publications

Speaking bodies – silenced voices: Child protection and the knowledge culture of ‘evidencing’

Speaking bodies – silenced voices: Child protection and the knowledge culture of ‘evidencing’

Social change in developmental times? On ‘changeability’ and the uneven timings of child welfare interventions

The process of disclosing child abuse: a study of Swedish Social Services protection in child abuse cases

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