https://www.mdu.se/

A large number of children and teenagers are placed in foster care for various reasons. Social services have a responsibility to follow up youths and ensure that they have the same opportunity for positive development as other young people. A qualitative study was conducted with an abductive perspective by gathering material from social workers in this particular field. The research design of this study is an interview study. The theoretical premise was Bronfenbrenners ecosystem theory and Maslows hierarchy of needs theory. The aim of this study was to examine how social services work to secure youths life situation and how social workers promotes teenagers perspective in their work. The collected material was analyzed thematically. Results showed that all social workers in the study perceived that a functioning schooling and network around the teenagers is important. Another outcome was that frequent follow-up work in foster care is important and that four of six municipalities have one responsible social worker that only follows teenagers in foster care. One of the municipalities which do not have one responsible social worker as a separate position is under preparation to develop this profession. A further result in this study was that social workers variously promote teenagers perspective in their work.