| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to analyze how the key staff concept is used in residential care for children and young people and which role the key staff concept plays in the organization. The study was based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with six key staff and two managers from two different residential care facilities for children and young people. The theoretical perspective used was the neo-institutional theory and Hasenfeld´s term Human service organizations. One of the conclusions of the study was that the key staff describe that they have a central role when it comes to the treatment of the children. Another conclusion showed the variety of tasks that the key staff have, like the administrative work that they do. They also have an educational role, similar to the one that parents normally have which means that they are responsible of parenting the children. They also described themselves as a link between the children and their social network. The people interviewed justified the use of the key staff concept as it gives structure for the work, security to the children and serves as a guide on how to create and maintain relationships. The institutional processes shown in the key staff concept are: the coercive, which can be seen by the obligation to follow the treatment plans. The mimetic, since it exists only a few ways to organize the work and the normative which shows that their education and/or the level of education can affect the approach that they have towards the children.
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