Michael Tärnfalk

Började arbeta som resursperson på fritidshem 1982 med barn med särskilda behov pga missbrukande, psykiskt sjuka, prostituerade och kriminella föräldrar. Utbildad socionom vid Ersta Sköndal 1990. Socialsekreterare 1990 - 2000 inom socialtjänst och Fryshuset med utagerande, brottsliga och socialt utsatta barn, unga och deras familjer. Disputerade 2007. Huvudsaklig inriktning mot barn/unga med utagerande och/el brottsligt beteende. Har varit övervakare, kontaktperson familjehem m.m.

Biography and experience of client- and practice-related research and research collaboration

Michael Tärnfalk is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Work, Uppsala University. Previous he was a social worker primarily working with norm-violating children and youths for over a decade before taking up research. He has also worked as a probation officer and as a family care home and as a treatment assistant in a closed youth institution (särskilt ungdomshem).

He has been teaching social work students in investigative social work methods and theory, social work law, procedure law and criminal justice law and social work with young criminals for approximately 20 years. He is one of Sweden’s most experienced researchers with a social work background in the field of young offenders, who are otherwise primarily studied from a criminological perspective. As his research touches on criminology, he also has good expertise in that subject. He is especially focused on how social work measures is intertwined with criminal justice system and how that may impact social work with criminal and otherwise problematic youth.

Michael Tärnfalk has been a consulting expert to the National board of health and welfare concerning social work with criminal youth.

Current ongoing assignments

At present Michael Tärnfalk is contracted (2023-24) by the Swedish government to lead a national investigation and leave a proposal for the degree goals in the Higher Education Ordinance of how the social work education (socionomprogrammet) may improve in the area of social work with young criminals.

Michael Tärnfalk also participates as an expert in an ongoing review (2023-24) carried out by the National Audit Office, regarding the special youth homes (särskilda ungdomshem) run by the National Board of Institutional care.

Previous experience of client- and practice-related research

Michael Tärnfalk has conducted studies in many areas of social work. As a researcher he has interviewed:

- young criminals placed in closed youth institutions (särskilda ungdomshem) about their experiences of being in compulsory care,

- Staff at closed youth institutions (särskilda ungdomshem) about how they worked with criminal youth and what problems the staff experienced due to the implementation of the new youth penalty secure youth care (Sluten ungdomsvård) while at the same time and in the same institutional setting provide care and treatment for children and youth placed by the social services,

- Social services officers (socialsekreterare) about how they assess the best interest of the child in cases when young criminal boys are first sentenced to timed punishment in secure youth care (sluten ungdomsvård) and after the served time of punishment are kept at the same institution by decision of the social services to receive indefinite care and treatment based on the principle the best interest of the child,

- Police officers about how they experience collaboration with the social service in cases of criminal children and youth.

Michael Tärnfalk has conducted several document studies of the social services statements (yttrande enligt 11 § Lag med särskilda bestämmelser om unga lagöverträdare) in the legal process of prosecuting criminal youth.

Previous experiences of collaboration in research

Between 2017 to 2021 Michael Tärnfalk initiated and was leading a Nordic interdisciplinary research network with researchers from Denmark, Finland, Island, Norway and Sweden. The researchers covered the areas of social work, criminology, sociology and law about how the societies in large in these countries handle criminal children and youth.

Michael Tärnfalk has also collaborated with the faculty of law at Stockholm university on several occasions, in meetings with international legal scholars in discussion about and to explain how the Swedish juvenile justice system is constructed and the importance of the social services in that system and the insufficiencies of the social services.

Publikationer

Vetenskaplig produktion

Tärnfalk, M & Alm, C (2019) Social worker motivations and organisational prerequisites for care of children who commit crimes – the best interests of the child or the protection of society?, European Journal of Social Work, DOI: 10.1080/13691457.2019.1585334

Tärnfalk, M (2007) Barn och brott. En studie om socialtjänstens yttranden i straffprocessen för unga lagöverträdare. Akademisk avhandling. Stockholms universitet, institutionen för socialt arbete. Stockholm: US-AB print center.

Andra arbeten av vetenskaplig relevans

Tärnfalk, M (2014) Professionella yttranden. En introduktion till socialt arbete med unga lagöverträdare. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur. (Sakkunnigbedömd bok av forskarna i socialt arbete Jörgen Degner och Lia Ahonen vid Örebro universitet).

Hollander, A och Tärnfalk, M (2007) Juvenile Crime and the Justice System in Sweden. I Hill, M, Lockyer, A och Stone, F (red.) Youth Justice and Child Protection.London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. (Kapitel i internationell forskarantologi).

Tärnfalk, M (2012) Sociala insatser i skuggan av samhällsskyddet - Ideologiska, juridiska och vetenskapliga brytpunkter när barn har begått allvarliga brott. I Ryberg-Welander, L och Alexius, K (Red.) Rätt, social sårbarhet och samhälleligt ansvar. Festskrift till Anna Hollander. Stockholm: Norstedts Juridik

Tärnfalk, M (2000) Sluten ungdomsvård år 2000. Redovisning av intervjuundersökning, SiS rapport 2001:6. Statens institutionsstyrelse.

Populärvetenskap - ej vetenskapliga publikationer efter socionomexamen

Tärnfalk, M (2010) Counselling och juridik i socialt arbete – ett erfarenhetsbaserat perspektiv. I Larsson, S och Trygged, S (red.) Counselling - stödsamtal i socialt arbete. Stockholm: Gothia.

Tärnfalk, M (1998) Tre viktiga förändringar inom domstolarnas och socialtjänstens ansvar för ungdomsbrottslingar, Socionomen nr. 2

Tärnfalk, M (1997) Vart är ungdomsvården på väg? Socionomen nr. 1

Tärnfalk, M (1997) Straff eller vård – ett paradigmskifte i ungdomsvården, Socionomen nr 2.

Tärnfalk, M (1996) Sju ungdomars upplevelse av § 12-vård, Socionomen nr. 4.

Tärnfalk, M (2020) Tidiga insatser krävs för unga kriminella. Medverkan i SR P1 3/9-20

Tärnfalk, M (2019) Barn som begår brott och socialtjänsten, Fackförbundet SSR, Socialtjänstpodden.

Tärnfalk, M och Alm, C (2019) ”Ingen vill ta hand om barn som begått grova brott”2019-08-20.DN Debatt.

Alexius, K,Backlund, Å, Alm,C, Kaldal, A, Hollander, A, Tärnfalk, M, Östberg, F, Överlien, C och Schiratzki, J(2015) Forskare: Ge socialtjänsten rätt verktyg. SvD Debatt2015-12-11