The Basic Support Care When Working Towards Integration: A qualitative study on the perceptions of treatment assistants about the integration efforts performed in residential care homes of unaccompanied children and minors in Sweden post the Migration Cri

Abstract: This study examines the perceptions of treatment assistants about the integration work that is aimed at integrating Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) to the Swedish society. The study also examines treatment assistants’ perceptions about the latitude within the workplace following legislative changes in 2016 and 2018. The study was conducted at two residential care homes owned by Malmö Municipality. The study employs qualitative research design to investigate the impact of the policy measures. Method: The data collection consists of six participants, whom were cautiously sampled for this study and interviewed individually using semi structured interview guide between the week 13 to 16 in the early months of 2018. A coding scheme was developed as a guide to conceptualize the coding process in order to allocate units of meaning to the collected data. The data was then thematically analysed. Theoretical Framework: The study’s theoretical and analytical framework is based on Ludvig Beckman’s integration theory and Michael Lipsky’s theory about street-level bureaucrats. Results: The participants perceived the change of legislation to have somewhat hampered their ability to perform certain professional duties that were conducted for integrative purposes. Overall, the participant felt that they had adequate resources regarding integration of the target group but also expressed that with extra funding and resources they would be able to provide an even better integration. The participants integrative efforts tend to focus on civic information about Swedish society participation and creating relationships with the local community so that the children are as independent as possible when they are eventually released from the care of the social services. With regards to the participants latitude within the workplace and their ability to influence different decisions regarding the children, there was no indication that their role had been impacted positively nor negatively by the policy measures.