Licentiatseminarium i socialt arbete

Leigh Ann Loebs försvarar sin licentiatuppsats i socialt arbete "Making Sense of Disparities in Violence-Exposed Children's Access to Interventions : A Social Justice-Based Approach to Swedish Child Welfare"

Licentiatuppsats Leigh Ann Loebs 2025:45

Nedan följer en kort beskrivning av innehållet (ur baksidestexten):

This thesis explores how violence-exposed children access interventions from Swedish Child Welfare Services (CWS), and how team leaders support caseworkers in identifying and counteracting bias and disparities in assessments, particularly in relation to children’s gender and family origin. Integrating quantitative and qualitative data, the thesis explores both structural patterns and assessment processes. The first study investigates whether demographic characteristics influence how cases involving suspected violence are assessed and responded to. Findings suggest that girls, children with Nordic family origins and those assessed at high risk of harm are more likely to receive interventions than other children. The second study focuses on the role of team leaders in supporting equitable assessments, highlighting how supervision can serve as a site for challenging bias. Team leaders were found to foster reflective spaces and promote diversity-awareness through collective sensemaking. The concepts of intersectionality, bias and risk models, and supervisorial sensemaking frame the analysis, illuminating how societal, organizational and interpersonal mechanisms shape children’s access to support. The thesis concludes by proposing an approach for a rights-based child welfare practice.

Händelsen är öppen för allmänheten.

Medverkande

• Evelyn Khoo, opponent, professor, Göteborgs universitet

Upplysningar

• Linda Ortfeldt
  Telefon: 076-101 24 63
  E-post: linda.ortfeldt@kau.se