“He Won’t Pay”: The Entanglement of Financial Abuse and Negligence in Swedish Child Maintenance Processes

Abstract

Since 2016, separated parents in Sweden are expected to pay child maintenance directly to each other unless special reasons, such as intimate partner violence (IPV), can be invoked. Problems with maintenance payments, which may involve expressions of financial abuse, have become a common topic in interactions between parents and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (SSIA) that handles these cases. This article examines 132 phone calls to the SSIA, and the results show that payment problems are typically framed as relating to inability or negligence and not as possible indications of abuse. This highlights the need for training and capacity building regarding IPV in the Swedish welfare state.