Evelina holds PhD in social work. Her research interests are child welfare and Swedish foster care, with a particular interest in independent foster care, which is a form of foster care where social services contracts organizations to recruit and support foster families.

Publications:

Fridell Lif, E. (2026). Finding a Suitable Fostering Agency: Swedish Foster Carers’ Reflections on Navigating a Mixed Welfare Market. CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, 31(2) 748–758 https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.13320.

Fridell Lif, E. (2025). The Swedish Foster Care Market : Structural, professional, and foster carer perspectives (PhD dissertation, Department of Social Work, Stockholm University). https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-245508   

Fridell Lif, E., Lundström, T., Pålsson, D., Sallnäs, M., & Shanks, E. (2025). Foster Care on the Market: Swedish Independent Foster Care Agencies in an International Context. Social Inclusion, 13, Article 10368. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.10368

Fridell Lif, E. (2025). Social work professionals’ perspectives on using independent foster care: A contested way to compensate for organisational failure? Adoption & Fostering, 49(1), 102-119. https://doi.org/10.1177/03085759251316575

Fridell Lif, E. (2023). The use of independent foster care agencies by Swedish local authorities: Do structural factors matter? European Journal of Social Work, 26(2), 348–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2023.2166017  

Fridell Lif, E., Brännström, L., Vinnerljung, B., & Hjern, A. (2017). Childhood Adversities and Later Economic Hardship among Swedish Child Welfare Clients: Cumulative Disadvantage or Disadvantage Saturation? British Journal of Social Work, 47(7), 2137–2156. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcw167