Placing children in foster care is today considered the best alternative for children unable to stay in their biological environment. A nuclear family consisting of a father, a mother and a child is the most common family structure within foster care today. The purpose of this thesis is to gain insight on the family norms that control the foster care system. It's a qualitative study based on interviews with six professional social workers within the field of foster care. This method gave us empirical material, that was later analyzed from two main theories and one theoretical concept.

The aim of this essay is to study how the University Church is represented in student newspapers. By conducting an inductive thematic analysis on sixteen articles chosen from newspapers distributed by the student union at three Swedish universities, the main purpose of the study is to further understand the role and function of the University Church in a contemporary Swedish context. Three themes emerging from the initial step of the thematic analysis were chosen for further analysis: (1) a secularized church?, (2) provocation and (3) reasons to seek out the University Church. The themes were then highlighted by two theoretical perspectives: Mark Chaves? theory of internal secularization and a theoretical framework developed by Anders Bäckström with the aim to explain the role of the church as a welfare agent in Sweden.The study shows that the University Church is portrayed as both an ambiguous and complex organization.

Animal welfare during transport has for a long time been a problem around the world. Many animals are transported in stressful environments for slaughter. Even during Roman and Antiquity times wild animals were transported from Africa to the amusement parks in Rome. The aim of our work was to compare how well Sweden and Denmark are performing their inspections of transports of cattle and pigs for slaughter. Today, overloaded transports and poor treatment is not uncommon in Europe and every year 22 million animals are transported between countries.

Children are said to be the future of our society. Hence, how we take care of our children is a cause of concern. This is evident in much of the social work that is carried out in Sweden. One of the times when we find children to be the most vulnerable is when they, for different reasons, are separated from their biological families and placed in foster care. Based on the fact that Sweden over the last century has experienced an increased immigration intake we wanted to take a closer look on how this change of the population dynamics has influenced foster care in the country.

Background: People are individuals who react differently when confronted with unexpected events. To miscarry is nature?s own way of sorting out the foetuses which could never become a fully grown child. The loss can without help be difficult to handle and can impact the couple negatively towards future pregnancies. The nursing staff ought to familiarize themselves with the experience, encounter their feelings and identify their needs.

This study aims to make out, which notions and ideas about gender and sexuality that comes into expression in the description of the deviant youth. This study is a narrative analysis, based on a queer theoretical approach. The queer theory directs attention to the normative frameworks on gender and sexuality. Queer theory also illustrates the relationship between the normative and what is considered abnormal/deviant. The study's empirical basis is 8 legal texts, legal documents formed in a Swedish context, which include the welfare state´s judiciary and social services.

This thesis is focused on what impact stall confinement has on a horse?s mental and physical welfare. It was of great interest to get a gathered picture of how Swedish horseowners had experienced having their horses in stall confinement. A survey study was conducted to achieve this. The survey included twelve questions which for example investigated the horses? age at the time of stall confinement, the length of stall confinement and their sexes.

In my scientific essay, I an experienced child minder, describe two different preschools cultures and investigate how preschool culture can be influenced and created by different conditions. In my first story I describe a professional preschool with a preschool director who is involved in the activities every day. The second story is about a preschool that is characterized by a different preschool culture and members of the staff who are stuck in old patterns and with an absent preschool director. What is it that really creates a professional preschool? I want through my essay highlight pedagogues child perspective, attitude, approach to ethics and preschool values.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is one of the big feline species kept in zoos worldwide. The wild populations are quite small and therefore the captive population make up an important part of the total population of the world. Although life in the wild is not always easy and a captive environment provides shelter and food it does not come without problems. In captivity cheetahs become chronically ill and also develop stereotypic behaviours. Neither of these are problems in wild populations and both can be linked to stress in captivity.

This BSc thesis is a part of an initial step of a collaboration between Skansen and Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) and constitutes of an inventory of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage run by KWS. Animal Orphanage takes care of orphaned and injured animals arriving from throughout Kenya. The project started out as a refuge and as a temporary place for animals in need of care and help. With time it has evolved to an establishment that resembles and functions more like an animal zoo. The aim of this inventory is to focus on how the biological needs of Congo grey parrots ( Psittacus erithacus erithacus) and cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are met, in terms of management and housing.

The purpose of the present study has been to investigate the attitudes of personell involved in the preschoolorganisation in a Swedish commune regarding injury risks for children in pre-school. Sixrespondents were interviewed in a qualitative interview study.Two different pre-school units were investigated, and it was found that they had surprisingly largedifferences in how they were working with children safety. However, in summary it can be said that therespondents perceived that child safety should encompass a safe and secure environment, however withthe important caveat that accidents can never be completely excluded, due to the natural anddevelopmentally important play of children.The investigated commune and pre-school units improved children safety mainly by using yearlyplanning meetings (Sw. "barnskyddsrond") where the physical environment in the school wasinvestigated together with external specialists. However, there are important differences in how the unitsworked within this framework, some units actively encouraging and others discouraging children andparent participation in the work..

Svartedalens nature reserve a social richness worth develop. The nature reserve of Svartedalen is an area of high biological and social values. The reserve is located close to several densely populated areas. The reserve has been classified as a national area of interest for nature conservation and outdoor life, and as a Natura 2000 area according to both the bird- and habitat directions. The reserve is the largest landarea in Västra Götaland, 3 410 hectares, where a resolution has been made about all these forms of protection. The foundation Skogssällskapet owns 1 956 hectares of the reserve, at 1 384 hectares of the property they pursue FSC-certified silver culture, according to current management plan.

In the essay, the balance between being an educator and a mother of a child with autism is explored in respect to how the roles might influence the actions of a pre-school teacher. Writing is used as a method of reflection, it gives the teacher a chance to take a step back and view her practical experiences from a novel perspective; conclusions are recounted throughout the teachers narrative. The essay is based on the following questions; which problems might arise in the meeting with parents such as Adams where there is a suspicion of autism for the child? Which advantages/disadvantages might the teacher?s personal experience of autism have for the role as educator? How would the dual roles as educator and mother of an autistic child best be balanced in the future?The essay highlights special educational and parent perspectives on the matter of autism. Professor of pedagogy Claes Nilholm, specializes in special needs education.

The purpose of this essay was to examine whether there were any differences in social workers way of investigating boys and girls, age 13-15. The main questions we wanted to answer were; which were the factors that the social workers focused on? Did the investigations lead to a measure and if so, which one? How were risk and protection factors described and ana-lysed?To answer our questions we read and analyzed 22 reports, written by social workers 2004 at the department for teenagers and families at a social welfare service in Sweden. We came to the conclusion that there were some differences, but these were few and not extensive. Recreational activities was mentioned in a higher degree in the boys reports while health, housing conditions and network were mentioned more often in the girl´s reports.

The purpose of my study is to examine how the Hospital Play Specialists looks at the importance of play for children in the hospitalenvironment. The thesis is based on qualitative research interviews. This means that respondents followed an interview guide with questions. These questions I compiled in advance. The main theme in the interviews has been the characteristics and importance of play.