The purpose of this article is to present a case study of one teenager?s story of leaving
home. The point of analysing this particular narrative is to gain more knowledge and
understanding of how young people present and account for such a dramatic event as
running away from home or being thrown out. A further aim is to see how social
services? efforts are reflected in the narratives. I intend in the article to focus on three
issues. How does this young person present himself in his narrative? How is the situation
in itself (being thrown out/running away) represented? In what light do the social
services appear? The empirical material underlying this article consists of two studies
treating the subject of running away from home/being thrown out: one from the youth
and the parent perspectives (Sjöblom,1995) and one from a social services point of view
(Sjöblom, 2002). The article discusses the importance and consequences for these
adolescents in their development towards adulthood and the lack of a young people?s
perspective and emphasis on the sanctity of the family within the social services. Social
services dominated by a family perspective with the aim of reintegrating adolescents
into an often dysfunctional family appear in a mainly controlling and disciplinary role,
where the young people?s individual survival strategies are not given enough attention
or taken seriously. |