”Valvotun vaihdon säännöt” -sarjakuvasopimus multimodaalisena genrenä asiakkaan ja työntekijän välistä toimintaa rakentamassa
How is agency produced through image and word in the multimodal ”The Rules of Supervised Exchange” comic contract?

Summary/Abstract: Social service documents, such as ”The rules of supervised exchange”, can be dificult to understand because of the language and terms used in them. One way to make these documents more accessible is transforming them into comic contracts. Using a comic-style format, can help clients better understand the document and the associated agency of the worker and the client. Additionally, it can make communication by public authorities more accessible. Transforming social service documents involves visualization, i.e., including different types of visual elements in the document. Typically, comic contracts include characters and their interaction is visually displayed. Tus, comic contracts are multimodal texts that combine images and words in different ways. Examining comic contracts in social services is important for both clients and workers. Documents should be understandable and clear so that clients know what services are described in the documents, what are the clients’ rights, responsibilities, and obligations, and what is expected of them as actors. Tis article analyzes a multimodal document about ”Rules of supervised exchange”. Tis document was translated into a comic-style format due to the needs of the Finnish Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters. The federation organizes professionally supervised exchanges and meeting place activities at different sites in Finland, to help children and families in insecure situations. A supervised exchange means that one parent takes the child into a professionally monitored facility, and the other parent picks up the child. The parents arrive and leave the facility at different times, and the supervisor escorts the child from one parent to another to ensure that the parents do not see each other. The aim of the service is to facilitate child exchange in a safe, neutral, and child-centered setting. ”The rules of supervised exchange" comic contract illustrates how the exchange happens, what is allowed, what is not allowed at the exchange facility, and what should be done if one of the parties is late for the exchange. The research question for this article are as follows: what kind of multimodal genre does the ”Rules of Supervised Exchange” comic contract belong to? What sections does it consist of? How does it build agency for the client and worker through visual and verbal means? The data will be analyzed using text analysis, period analysis, and the concepts of systemic-functional theory and narratology of comics to interpret the data, with a specific focus on interpreting agency. Trough content analysis, we identified three sections in the document: institutional action context and actors’ agency, supervised exchanges and its practices, and regulation of actions and the rights and obligations of actors. These section differ from one another in their objectives, the language used, and visualization, as well as the agency attributed to the actors. The purpose of the ”Rules of supervised Exchange” comic contract is to safeguard the best interests of the child and their right to visit the parents. The agencies of the worker, parents, and child appear to be multidimensional. The analysis indicates that translation is a process that involves making choices in the selection of illustrations and words, as well as in the use of different symbols and characters. Choices are also made for the kind of agencies given to the parents, children, and workers in the document.

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