The unfinished democratisation of family service systems: parental consent and children’s viewpoints on receiving support in child and family welfare in Sweden

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article addresses the predicament of family service systems being built on parents’ voluntary participation and the need for parental consent, which may block children’s right to services. It examines parental consent and the impact of parental non-consent for children’s opportunities to receive protection and support in Swedish child and family welfare. We analysed 264 child assessments randomly selected from 12 municipalities in Sweden in order to investigate how parents’ voluntary participation exerts an influence on the assessment process. The results show that nearly half of the parents declined support from the social services on behalf of themselves and/or their child, directly blocking their children’s access to services. One implication of parents’ voluntary participation is that it may indirectly prevent children at risk from being asked about their view on support; another is that social workers do not always assess the child’s need in cases when the parents do not want any type of support at all. Children are arguably the principal users of family services, but it is parents who define the frames when their children are at risk of abuse and neglect. Support risks becoming a service for parents only, and so a democratisation of child protection specifically aimed at children must be considered in its own right.