ir own needs for other family members. Our Swedish findings indicate similar sacrifices. Several women talked about their strategies to guarantee a certain level of well-being for their children, putting their own needs second, and were partly blaming themselves for their difficulties, but also attributing part of their difficulties to factors in their social context and social structures beyond their control, such as addiction or violence in their family or discrimination in the labour market.

How can services enhance resilience?
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A review of qualitative studies conducted in the UK of experiences of informal and formal support among low-income parents concluded that the perception of being supported is as important as the actual support received \[[@B52]\]. In our study those interviewees who perceived that they had obtained help from the welfare services and had met a professional they trusted, also reflected over other factors which strengthened their resilience and helped them to function and feel better in their situation (an upward moving spiral as conceived by Canvin et al. 2009 \[[@B41]\]).

However, motivating or strengthening the self-esteem and self-efficacy of clients was not enough in situations where support in entering the labour market and education was also needed. Learning difficulties, mental ill-health, addiction problems and in several cases domestic violence over many years, added to the difficulties and required more comprehensive, individualised long-term support. In the narratives in our study, the support from the welfare system, including health and social care, seemed to be fragmented. In most cases only the economic assistance had been long-term.

Resilience in the interviewees' stories was about resistance, not giving up but trying to find escape routes out of poverty and adverse situations, especially in critical moments in life, when interviewees were motivated and open to changes in their lives. That is an important aspect to notice in both he