Project information
Doctoral student
Anna Amilon
Supervisor
Ulrika Järkestig-Berggren
Assistant supervisor
Mats Anderberg
Participating organisations
Linnaeus University
Financier
Forte
Timetable
1 March 2024 – March 2029
Subject
Social work (Department of Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, Linnaeus University)
Research group
Research on Interventions and Support for Children and Youth (RISCY)
More about the project
In a study from southern Sweden, 13 percent of adolescents in lower and upper secondary school stated that they regularly perform caregiving tasks in their families at a high or very high level. These children are referred to as young carers. Their responsibilities may include practical tasks, emotional support, and sometimes even medical or organizational duties at home. Despite the potential impact on their health, education, and well-being, young carers are rarely recognized in child welfare assessments conducted by social services.
The aim of this doctoral project is to investigate how young carers themselves describe their caregiving role and their experiences of encounters with social services. The project also examines how child protection social workers assess children’s caregiving responsibilities: which situations are identified as problematic, which are overlooked, and how professional norms and organizational conditions influence these assessments.
The study pays particular attention to the dual nature of the young carers’ situation: being both responsible and simultaneously in need of support. The project aims to contribute new knowledge to strengthen the capacity of social services to identify and support young carers.
The project is part of the research in the research project Developing and validating a method for assessment of children's caring activities in child protection assessments and in the the research group Research on Interventions and Support for Children and Youth (RISCY) (in Swedish)
