1. Children’s Advocacy Centres (CACs) in Sweden Experiences of parents and children Bodil Rasmusson School of Social Work Lund University Sweden e-mail: bodil.rasmusson@soch.lu.se ISCI Conference, Sidney 2009

2. 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 2004 -piloting initiated by the Government at 6 sites 2006-2007 -the number is growing

3. 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

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

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

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

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

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

9. Lund university /Faculty of Social Science/School of Social Work/ November 2009 Evaluation of the piloting 2006-2007 Aim Give voice to children and parents who have been in contact with or been directly affected by CACs (one of the six studies)

10. 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?

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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…

19. 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…

20. 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 …

21. 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.

22. 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…..

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