Barnvårdsnämnden i Kalmar
och deras syn på vanvårdade barn mellan 1911-1918
In the beginning of the twentieth century in Sweden the laboring class grew and became more established. This entailed both a change in housing conditions and the design of the social policies. The purpose of this study is to show how the Child Welfare Committee in Kalmar conducted its work during 1911-1918. The aim is to show on what grounds they made their decisions and how the interaction between the committee and the families functioned in practice. This will be accomplished by giving examples from the protocols written by Kalmar?s Child Welfare Committee. The number of families that the committee examined during the period is 62 with a total of 66 children ? of these children 53 are boys and 13 are girls. With the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods my researched material shows that it was mainly the children of the laboring class that caught the attention of the Child Welfare Committee, because of either the parents' inability to care for their homes and children or that the children themselves were considered guilty of various misdemeanors. Problematic behavior was commonly associated with boys, which were therefore sent to reformatories. Girls however were more often apprehended because of their living conditions which were considered poor. The ideal of a good childhood, which laboring class families failed to up live to, was the basis of the Child Welfare Committee?s work.