معرفی
David Pålsson is a Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in Social Work at the Department of Social Work, Stockholm University. Based at Campus Albano, Room F 2317, he serves as editor-in-chief of the journal Nordic Welfare Research alongside Terje Olsen. His academic work spans multiple research collaborations focusing on child welfare systems in Sweden and across the Nordic region.
Dr. Pålsson's research primarily centers on child welfare as a societal institution, with particular emphasis on out-of-home care (foster care and residential care) from both Swedish and Nordic comparative perspectives. His broader research interests include:
- Inspection and control mechanisms in child welfare interventions
- Children's participation in decision-making processes
- Poverty among children and families in contact with social services
- Privatization and competitive tendering within personal social services
- Public audit of child welfare services
His extensive publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on residential care, foster care, and child welfare systems across the Nordic countries. Recent work has examined licensing systems, quality control mechanisms, and children's rights within residential settings. His research often employs comparative Nordic approaches and analyzes the implications of marketization and professionalization on social work practices, revealing tensions between standardization requirements and individualized care needs.
Dr. Pålsson leads and participates in several significant research projects:
- Municipal child welfare - investigations, services and trajectories beyond (a longitudinal study following 2,000 children across eight Swedish municipalities)
- Foster care: a layman assignment in a time of professionalization and privatization
- Privatisation and competitive tendering within the personal social services in the Nordic countries
- The public responsibility for children in foster care
- Social services as an arena for crime prevention (an interdisciplinary collaboration with Criminology)
- Social climate and victimization in residential care
He is an active member of two research groups at Stockholm University:
- Marketsing and competitive tendering for social work (examining implications of market forces on social work practice)
- Control and audit of out-of-home care for children and youth (studying public audit mechanisms in child welfare)
