Children’s Needs in Focus: A Framework with Children’s Knowledge in Focus?
There are different frameworks for risk and needs assessment that can be used by social workers in child welfare in encounters with children who are in risk of suffering significant harm. BBIC, which is the Swedish abbreviation for ‘Children’s Needs in Focus’ is widely used in the context of Swedish child protection system. BBIC is a modified version of the Integrated Children’s System from the United Kingdom that has been adapted to Swedish conditions, legislation and practice.
In this presentation, I will give an overview of my PhD project which focuses on BBIC in relation to children who are exposed to violence in intimate relationships. I present a critical analysis of BBIC by mapping out different knowledge cultures; the ‘evidence-based’ scientific knowledge that BBIC is based upon, and some explanation models from the field of violence research and practice. I discuss how particular explanation models about violence in intimate relationships also give different accounts about children and violence. This will be linked to a discussion about what status is granted children’s ‘opinions’ and children as knowledgeable agents in this complex context. Using posters from Operation Kvinnofrid, a campaign against men’s violence against women as an example, I illustrate the knowledges and explanations that are part of the BBIC-frame, as well as those that fall outside.