Vardag i väntan

En kvalitativ analys av civilsamhällets möte med barn i vårdnadstvist

Abstract

The article explores how the civil society engage with children who have experienced domestic violence and have been involved in family law proceedings concerning custody, residence, and contact. Drawing on seven qualitative interviews with eleven practitioners from women’s shelters, children’s rights organizations, and legal aid, the study examines how they perceive children’s everyday lives as being shaped at the intersection of family, civil society, and authorities. The study is ethnologically oriented and analyzes accounts of how children’s positions, agency, and emotional experiences are given meaning in encounters with the civil society. Using concepts such as temporality and liminality, the analysis focuses on descriptions of how children’s lives are characterized by waiting, uncertainty, and everyday forms of governance. Methodologically, the article employs ethnographic hyper-narratives, which are fictional yet empirically grounded accounts, as an analytical and ethical strategy to present central themes and relational patterns in the material. The article contributes to cultural analysis by highlighting civil society as an arena in which children’s experiences are interpreted, renegotiated, and given meaning.