The concept “military family” is very well known in the international academic sphere, but is not a widely used term in many countries. The aim of this article is to elaborate the concept of the military family and the situation of these families in Estonia, Slovenia and Sweden. The similarities and differences between these three countries are highlighted by showing how the cultural, social and military context may influence and shape the recognition of military families, services and support provision.

Deployed family members meet different responses from within their families in context of deployments. In a dialogical participatory action research study involving Swedish soldiers and their families, 110 adults and 25 children narrated about their experiences of being or living with a deployed family member. In use of systemic and narrative ideas in combination with Appreciative Inquiry, the study focused on how soldiers and their families manage socially and relationally before, during and after deployments. Areas in focus were emerging interplay and communication; support needed, developed and used; solutions; recommendations to other families and different family members. Dialogical interviews were conducted with the whole participating family and/or some of the family members. Twenty-nine of the families (n=59) were followed before, during and after deployment. Twelve families were also interviewed later on – three years after the last interview closely after the deployment. With ethical considerations, the interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematic analyzed by the researcher. Result of the study: Narratives in different perspectives (soldier, veteran, home-staying partner, child, parent, sibling and others) lived and told, exposing different responses to and understanding of the phases of the on-going deployment cycle including for Swedish soldiers two periods of leave at home.

This study examines emergent responses in Swedish families when a family member working in the Swedish Armed Forces get deployed in an international military operation. A descriptive design encompassing eight years of dialogical participatory action research was used. During this period, 110 adults and 25 children participated in individual and/or group dialogical interviews. Qualitative content analysis was applied and emergent suggestions were subsequently validated in dialogues with participants. This eventually resulted in six ideal types of responses: Partnership; Supporting and mobilizing; Normalizing – ordinary life; Adjusting and negotiating; Emotional reacting; Suffering. The types, recognized by participating family members, including the soldiers, emerge as a matrix for the narrations of experiences and connected responses to the deployment. The Swedish families reject the notion that the general concept of military families captured ‘who we are’. We discuss the meaning of this in the context of organization (the Swedish Armed Forces) and society (family, government/politics).

I kapitlet belyses, utifrån tre forskningsstudier, hur barns delaktighet och deltagande i sociala utredningar kan utvecklas genom socialsekreterares invitationer. Studierna har bedrivits som dialogisk deltagande aktionforskning där deltagande socialsekreterare och deras ledare deltagit i studien i intervjuande samtal och med reflektioner på återkopplingar av resultat liksom samskapande av nya frågeställningar. I två av studierna har forskaren handlett och coachat socialsekreterarna som en pågående aktion inom forskningsstudien. Kapitlet syftar till att belysa hur barns medskapande kan tas tillvara genom att beakta barns rättigheter till del- aktighet och deltagande inom det sociala arbetets praktik och i synnerhet i utredningsarbete. Den aktuella kontexten handlar om utredningsprocesser inom socialtjänsten. Kontexten innehåller också den institution som i Norden kommit  att  kallas  Barnahus  (Johansson,  2012). Inom Barnahusverksamheten samarbetar polis, åklagare, rättsmedicin, barnmedicin liksom barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin samt socialtjänsten när ett barn misstänks vara eller varit utsatt för våld eller övergrepp (Rikspolis- styrelsen, Rättsmedicinalverket, Socialstyrelsen, & Åklagarmyndigheten, 2008). Det kan också handla om att barnet har bevittnat våld i nära relationer (Broberg et al., 2015). På Barnahuset samordnas myndigheternas inledande insatser. Barnet förhörs av polis och för att barnet inte ska behöva upprepa sin berättelse, iakttas förhöret av andra involverade professionella inklusive barnets socialsekreterare genom videokoppling till ett medhörningsrum i närheten av förhörsrummet.

This chapter presents and analyses children’s narratives about becoming summoned to, arriving and visiting a Barnahus. In the children’s perspective Barnahus became a house where children meet the police in serious matters. The children felt welcomed as guests, however hard work waited in the police investigative interview in front of scary cameras and strangers watching in an adjacent room. The children found they had needed more information about what was going on and why. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further research and reflections for practitioners in considerations of children’s experiences of procedures and of becoming addressed as non-acting objects – instead of the acting subjects the children talked about themselves as being and acted as in the research interviews.

Within the framework of an ongoing interdisciplinary research study into a Barnahus in Sweden, narratives of 53 social workers and 8 children have been explored. The narratives deal with the question how children can experience to become summoned to Barnahus covering what happens before, during and after a visit to Barnahus. The aim of the study is to develop new knowledge about Barnahus in the perspective of children. The research results indicate deficiencies in considerations of how children experience and understand the processes and procedures in use. In Sweden when a parent is under suspicion, the child becomes summoned without the parents’ consent and knowing. The child is expected to accept to be brought away from school or kindergarten and participate without any preparations and with very little information. In Barnahus the social assessments are said to regularly be done without involving the children. The social workers speak of difficulties in finding orientation for how and when to approach the child. After the police interview, when assessed no need for immediate measures, the child is brought back to school or kindergarten without any special support and further information about what have happened afterwards. In this children are at risk of feeling abandoned by the authorities. Social workers become occupied with the process of supporting and informing the parents. However, when the social worker and the child already know each other or the social worker has accompanied the child to Barnahus, the social worker becomes an important partner for the child.

Kommunerna i Skåne Nordost var tidigt ute med planer mot våld 2005. Försäkringskassan har på central nivå starkt profilerat sig som en aktör som skall motverka mäns våld mot kvinnor, men det verkar inte ha fått genomslag, än så länge. 

Region Skåne har markerat sig i planarbete och utvecklande av metodverktyg, som Genushanden©, men fortfarande är praxis när det gället att Våga Fråga varierande. Samverkan mellan kommuner och Regionen i form av bl. a. Familjehus och föräldrautbildningsprogram, samtal och rådgivning lockar många deltagare. De är exempel på program för normpåverkan som i andra sammanhang visat sig fungera.

Kommunerna samverkar, men har också gjort olika vägval. Hässleholm har satsat på sammanhållna processer inom kommunen, samverkan mellan tre förvaltningar och ett Familjefridscentrum som utvecklar och koordinerar arbetet mot våld i nära relationer. Övriga kommuner samverkar bland annat när det gäller spetskompetens genom Kriscentrum i Kristianstad. Alla kommuner satsar på förebyggande arbete genom bl.a. föräldrautbildningar. Samverkan med polis förefaller fungera bra när det gäller ungdom, men sämre när det handlar om kvinnor och/eller barn. Det framkom att det saknades stöd riktat till unga vuxna, där också personer som har eller kan vara aktuella för aktivitetsersättning återfinns.  

Det pågår och planeras fortsatt kompetensutveckling riktad till personal och genom KompetensCentrum. När det gäller Kristianstad kommun handlar det om 550 personer som skall gå utbildning.

Viktiga områden att fokusera på framöver är:

 - Våga Fråga!, idag är stor variation. Frågeställaren behöver vara trygg i vad som kan göras och erbjudas vid upptäckt av våld eller hot om våld.

- Mer information, utbildning och dialog inom och mellan verksamheter för att öka kompetens för överlämnande och tilltro till varandra som samverkanspartners.

- Förebyggande insatser för unga vuxna.

- Kopplingen arbetsliv – livet i övrigt. Ur arbetsgivarperspektiv går det att göra mycket när det gäller att upptäcka om anställd är utsatt för våld eller hot om våld såväl i arbetet som utanför arbetet.