Children’s Advocacy Centres (CACs) in Sweden Experiences of parents and children Bodil Rasmusson School of Social Work Lund University Sweden ISCI Conference, Sidney 2009

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Background - CACs  In United States since 1985  At Iceland since 1998  In Norway since 2007  ”Barnahus” in Sweden: – first initiatives 1998 and piloting initiated by the Government at 6 sites the number is growing

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Objectives and basic Ideas  Child friendly environments  Interdisciplinary collaboration  All professions under one roof  Reduced amount of interviews with children  Higher quality of investigations  Increased numbers of decisions to prosecute  Increased numbers of legal proceedings

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 ”Barnahus” in Linköping

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Waiting room Stockholm

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Consultation room Stockholm

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Room for forensic interviews Linköping

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Medical examination room Linköping

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Evaluation of the piloting Aim Give voice to children and parents who have been in contact with or been directly affected by CACs (one of the six studies)

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Research questions  Children’s and parent’s experiences from meetings with the authorities?  Have the objectives of CACs been fulfilled from the perspectives of children and parents?  Who take charge of children’s rights – where and when?

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Methods and sample Qualitative interviews with 12 children, 8-15 years 22 parents (both perpetrators and injured parties) representing all the six sites

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Theoretical frame of reference  Child perspective -Society’s child perspective -Adult’s child perspective -Children’s own perspective  Children’s rights -Tensions in the law (children vs parents) -Children as informants, coactors and actors -The child as an individual and as a member of a family

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Themes for the interviews  Place and environment  Reception from the staff at CAC  Previous contacts with professional helpers  Information  Experiences of the assessment processes and the possibilities for support, treatment and help  Good advices

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Results – environment and staff  The physical environment and reception apprehended very positive  Environment too ”childish” according to teenagers  Negative reactions from children to the video cameras

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Results – information and understanding of the procedures  Difficult for younger children to understand the forensic interviews  Difficulties for parents to understand the procedures and roles of different professionals  Access to information not always satisfactory

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Results –support and treatment  Treatment, support and crisis intervention for the whole family not always satisfactory  Access to support and treatment dependent on resources and organisation at each CAC  Suspected perpetrators could feel excluded

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Results –support and treatment  Sometimes reasons to talk about ”agencies” assault on children and families  Number of contacts with professionals could not always be reduced  Children could be informants, actors and coactors but are mostly objects for protection

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Voice from a parent There will be too many authorities. I didn’t understand how serious it was from the beginning and the consequences. There will be four different investigations – by the police, social services, child psychiatry and one about the custody…

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Voice from a parent About meetings with the police at CAC: It is very fine that it is not at the police station. Police is something frightening to children, I am convinced. It is so dramatic./…/ Good treatment when you enter the door and that is important. And then that they don’t use uniforms…

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Voice from a girl, 16 years old About her contact with the social services: They had no plan for what to do, they just went on. I felt that they were always in a hurry. They had a lot to do. When you talk with them they seemed so stressed. Especially one of them, the other one is a little bit better, seems a little bit more calm. But it feels a bit sad. My boyfriend called her but she scolded him and told him that he shouldn’t bother …

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Voice from a girl, 15 years old About the support from the social worker at CAC: I hurt myself before and she told me – ”when you get that feeling, just postpone it and tell yourself that you can do something else first, take a shower, do your homework and meet friends”. This has been in my thoughts since then. It has helped me a lot.

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Challenges for CACs  Balancing of different perspectives – child, parents’ and family – separately and together  Inventions in the short and long term  Developing organisations according to the best interest of the child  And…..

Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Thank you!