"What are they doing?" The Swedish social services interventions Contact Person and Contact Family for children

Background

Every year, 10–15 000 children in Sweden receive a contact person or contact family from the social services. There are no overall statistics on the interventions and very few studies that focus on their occurrence, actual content, results, or effects. Knowledge of the interventions is local and based on experience and in the traditions and routines developed in social services. 

Aim

In the study, we want to reach a broader understanding of the content of the interventions contact family and contact person, how and for whom they are used and to what purpose, in other words what is called the program theory of the interventions. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the tacit programme theory for contact persons and contact family, for children and young people.

A study in four steps

The study is performed in four steps. The first step is a national survey that is sent out to all social services. Here, we wish to find out how the interventions are organised, performed, and documented. 

In the second step, with start in 2025, we will collect material from 3–4 selected social services in different parts of country. Here, we will study local guidelines, but mainly all cases from the years 2023–2024 where contact person or contact family was granted. This way, we will get information about who gets the intervention and what goals are set. We will also be able to see how the intervention is planned, performed and ended in different cases. 

The third step is taken during 2026 and is built on interview study with children, parents, volunteers, and social workers in 12 cases selected from the social services that participated in step two. Here, focus is on understanding who the interventions contact person and contact family is conducted, perceived, and described from the perspective of those directly involved, with focus on the children’s participation. 

The fourth and final step entails a collected analysis of all the material we have collected, to get an overall picture of the program theories of the interventions (their target group, aim, content, performance, recourse consumption, and results). 

Ethical vetting

Studien är godkänd av Etikprövningsmyndigheten (Dnr 2024-03020-01). In all steps, we will assure that no information about individuals’ life or situations is spread. All focus is on the interventions as such. 

We will present the results of the study step by step as the project proceeds. There will be publications in English in international academic journals and in Swedish in more accessible formats. All information about publications will be available here, and we will make sure to spread information as soon as new publications are available.