Are you one of those who take children?” Child protection professionals views on the disinformation campaign - implications on the practice and for children’s rights

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to analyse how professionals at the Child protection services (CPS) perceive the disinformation campaign, how they related it to their work and how they cope with the potential effects related to the campaign. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals at assessment units at CPS, and thereafter analysed through thematic analysis. This resulted in five themes; Negative attitudes towards CPS, Implications on the practice, Strategies to cope with the effects, Consequences for children´s rights and A feeling of how it "should" be. This was analysed in relation to previous research and the following theoretical concepts; Discretionary space, Professional identity and A child rights perspective. The main findings indicate that the disinformation campaign has affected the professionals and the practice in adverse ways, mainly shown by fear and distrust towards CPS, affecting both their professional and private life. The professionals cope with the implications using a variety of strategies and there are indications that there is a lack of organisational guidance on how to deal with the implications. The professional’s seem to have a strong sense of professional identity, despite facing several issues in establishing such. The adversity and ambiguous role seems to entail a reinforced sense of the collective. The lack of trust towards PS results in issues ensuring participatory rights for children, the findings indicate issues of CPS not accessing families, children not being heard, children not getting support and parents making sudden moves with their children out of fear for CPS. Moreover, the duality of hildren's roles in society is highlighted, as they are framed as both actors and objects. Lastly, there are indications of parental rights taking precedence over children’s rights. In conclusion, the findings indicate that the disinformation campaign has had adverse effects on the practice, the individual social worker and ultimately affects children’s rights in a negative way. Thus, there is a need to shift focus on the implications on merely a state level, and include the implications that can be seen on a street bureaucracy level whilst having a child’s rights erspective throughout.