1. The Swedish Experience – cooperation between the society and the individual
Non Violent Childhoods Stockholm May 8, Staffan Janson

2. Plausible explanations to why the majority of Swedish parents have stopped using corporal punishment
The welfare state, technical development making life easier.
Early political consensus, early protective legislation.
Early high educational level of the population
High awareness of the importance of socio-economic factors – economic equity.
Preventive health care for all, parental education.
Comparably high economic gender equity.
The majority of the children early in the “public space” (pre-schools).
Increased understanding of the connection between family violence and child abuse.

3. Important Swedish law-making to prevent corporal punishment
1858 prohibited to beat grown up servants
1920 prohibited to beat all servants, children included
1928 corporal punishment of pupils prohibited in higher education
1957 corporal punishment legally equalised to cruelty
1958 corporal punishment prohibited in all schools
1966 corporal punishment abolished as a method of upbringing of children in the Swedish Parental Act
1979 Corporal punishment of children prohibited by the Swedish Parental Act
1982 Corporal punishment of children incorporated under public prosecution
1990 Sweden ratifies the UNCRC.
1993 Swedish Ombudsman for children

4. How do most Swedish Parents solve conflicts with their children?
Distract
Make jokes
Support good behaviour
Calm down and comforts the child
Do not insult consciously
Hug the child to make it able to listen
American Academy of Paediatrics: Guidance for effective Discipline 1998:
Good role models:
- Maintain a positive emotional tone (play, parental warmth, affection)
Provide attention to the child to increase positive behaviour
provide consistency (regular times and patterns for daily activities and interactions to reduce resistance, convey respect and make negative experiences less stressful)
Respond consistently to similar behaviour
Being flexible, particularly with older children.

5. Alternative disciplining strategies (cognitive-behavioral parenting strategies)
Clear rules and expectations appropriate to the child´s age and development
Consistent responding
Diversion and distraction of younger children
Differentiating the child from its behavior
Providing the child with behavior alternatives – encouraging desirable behavior
Parental modelling of self-regulation
Removal of anger from discipline
Keep long-term goals in mind
(Porzig Drummond. Help-not punishment. Children Australia, Cambridge journals 2016)

6. Risks with Corporal Punishment
Only benefit of CP: immediate compliance.
Detrimental long term effects outweigh short term gains!
Overall ineffective as disciplining strategy (Gershoff ).
Being ineffective – risk of parental loss of control - escalating violence – increases injury risk
Strong association CP and Abuse!
Negative effects:
Anxiety interferes with learning, academic performance and leads to repeating of undesired behaviors
Even mild CP decreases the quality of parent-child relationship and increases aggressive child behavior
“Intergenerational cycle of violence”
Injuries

7. The problematic Swedish experiences
The misapprehension between the corporal punishment ban in the parental act and the penal code, probably making it more difficult to talk and act about violence and maltreatment.
The (relatively small group of) violent families
The difficulties to protect infants and toddlers from severe maltreatment
Cultural differences represented by various migrant groups
The problematic conflict between parental and child rights
Lack of competence in certain sectors
The pro´s and con´s of mandatory reporting

8. Mandatory reporting or not?
Figure 2 Map of mandatory child maltreatment reporting by country according to physician respondents:
(dark blue = mandatory reporting for physicians;
light blue = no mandatory reporting;
dark grey = nonresponding countries;
light grey = nontargeted countries).
From: Otterman et al: Paediatric approaches to child maltreatment are subject to wide
organizational variations across Europe
Acta Paediatrica 2017.

9. How can we help to make life better for our children?
Advocacy for Children’s rights and welfare; listening to children.
Realize where the risks are highest
Increase detection of abuse and neglect – give children opportunity to disclose!
Make interventions focused on the child´s life circumstances.
Work for gender equity and ”empower” dispriviliged parents (especially mothers).
Use existing well functioning social networks (neighborhood, schools etc.).
Work with “evidence based” methods, which are defendable from a child rights perspective.
Vi startar i höst fördjupade undersökningar med föräldrar och professionella som har kontakt med funktionshindrade barn och barn med kronisk sjukdom med avsikten att:
Ge en fördjupad bild av;
- hur föräldrar som har barn med långvarig sjukdom/funktionsnedsättning hanterar sin livssituation och sitt föräldraskap
- på vilket sätt det professionella stödet från olika samhällsinstanser påverkar familjen
Att bidra med kunskap och ta fram förslag kring;
- hur det intersektoriella arbetet kan utvecklas kring familjer med multipla behov och kring barn som far illa eller misstänks fara illa

10. United Nations Study on Violence against children (UNICEF 2007)
Guiding principles:
No violence against children is justifiable – children should never receive less protection than adults.
All violence against children is preventable – states must invest evidence based polices and programs to address factors that give rise to violence against children
States have the primary responsibility to uphold children´s rights to protection and access to services
States have the obligation to ensure accountability in every case of violence
The vulnerability of children is linked to their age and evolving capacity
Children have the right to express their views – and to have these views taken into account.
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015), target 16.2: All states should be committed to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture of children.

11. The positive Swedish experiences
Attitudes and behavior are possible to influence and change,
when there is:
An increased societal awareness of children as bearer of human rights,
Political consensus on successive changes of laws combined with effective (massive) information campaigns
Where assaults on children are equalized with assaults on adults
Universal prevention (ex. Midwifes bringing up family violence at pregnancy check-ups).
Family support in the welfare state ( parental leave, pre-schools).
A more profound understanding of the imminent and future risks of child maltreatment