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Social work and child welfare politics: through Nordic lenses
- Editors:
- FORSBERG Hannele, KROGER Teppo
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 206p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Bristol
The distinguishing features of Nordic approaches to child welfare are examined in this collection of papers. It sprang from meetings of the Nordic network of social researchers and teachers focusing on social work with children and families, whose principle aim has been to promote development in teaching and research in family-focused social work in the region. The chapters cover: Nordic family policies: constructing contexts for social work with families; A Nordic model in child welfare? From Welfare to illfare: public concerns for Finnish childhood; Supporting families: the role of family work in child welfare; Family-focused social work: professional challenges of the 21st century; In the best interest of the child? Contradictions and tensions in social work; Children in families receiving financial welfare assistance: visible or invisible? Listening to children’s experiences of being participant witnesses to domestic violence; Now you see them – now you don’t: institutions in child protection policy. The book ends with an epilogue on developing empowering child welfare systems and the welfare research needed to create them. It is expected to be of interest to a wide range of social policy researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
'Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves ...'
- Author:
- FERN Elizabeth
- Journal article citation:
- Practice: Social Work in Action, 26(1), 2014, pp.3-22.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper explores the ways in which social worker practitioners conceptualise childhood and the significance of this for developing social work practice. The data was generated through qualitative semi-structured interviews and group discussions with practitioners who were working directly with children in child protection or children’s service centres in Iceland. The interviews formed an initial stage of an action research study, informed by young people who had interacted with social services, and designed to develop practice in line with the young people’s views and expectations. The findings indicated there were contrasting and co-existing conceptualisations that had different implications for children. On the one hand, conceptualisations of children as problems and children as incompetent appeared, from practitioner’s accounts, to have undermined children’s ability to present their own concerns and maintain control over what happened to them. In contrast, conceptualisations broadly characterised as children active in defining problems and children participating on an equal footing appeared to assist practitioners in being prepared to promote children’s active involvement in defining problems and finding solutions. The analysis suggested that how practitioners think about children is an important area of enquiry and highlighted the shift in thinking required to develop more effective participatory practice. (Publisher abstract)
Characteristics of families who are repeatedly reported to child protection services in Iceland
- Author:
- FREYSTEINSDOTTRI Freydis Jona
- Journal article citation:
- Nordisk Sosialt Arbeid, 27(1), 2007, pp.2-18.
- Publisher:
- Universitetsforlaget AS
It is important to identify families who are at risk of repeatedly maltreating their children early in the process in order to develop specific ways to help these families stop maltreating their children or to work on termination of parental rights. This, identifying factors that contribute to repeated child maltreatment is essential. The focus of this study was to investigate risk factors for repeated maltreatment, specifically neglect, of children in Iceland. In the study a case comparison design was used to compare two groups on a variety of factors at different ecological levels related to child maltreatment. Problems related to mother and family dynamics were found to be more important in predicting repeated child maltreatment than problems related to fathers and child vulnerabilities.
Nordic child welfare services: variations in norms, attitudes and practices
- Author:
- GRINDE Turid Vogt
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Children's Services, 2(4), December 2007, pp.44-58.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Earlier Nordic studies show variation between countries in child welfare practice, reflecting cultural difference, and that case workers share the norms, values and attitudes of their society. Child welfare workers in Denmark, Iceland and Norway were presented with five child care stories (vignettes) that focused on the ‘threshold’ between preventive measures and out-of-home care (consensual or compulsory). Vignette themes included parental neglect, maternal alcohol misuse and youth problems. Study participants gave written answers to the Vignettes and took part in group discussions with colleagues. The results showed significant differences between countries in case workers’ responses. Variations in arguments, decisions, use of compulsion and working style reflected national views and priorities. A central dimension was how case workers balanced parental intersects with children’s needs: in Denmark they were reluctant to intervene with parental rights, whereas the Norwegians were more accepting of compulsory decisions to protect children.
Social work and Nordic welfare policies for children - present challenges in the light of the past
- Authors:
- EYDAL Gudny Bjork, SATKA Mirja Satka
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 9(3), September 2006, pp.305-322.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This article explores welfare policies for children in five Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden - and in that context identify what kinds of issues and challenges social work is currently facing. The data reviewed consist of policy documents, law texts, official reports, statistics, professional texts, and previous research. Policies and laws on children's protection; provisions, including policies on state benefits and care for children; and the autonomous integrity of children in terms of the norms and policies concerning their participation, in particular in public everyday life, are analysed from a historical perspective. Hence, future challenges for social work are analysed in light of the past. It is concluded that social workers have a unique opportunity, based on their close encounters with children as clients, to work for the realisation of children's rights. By applying a holistic perspective to issues of childhood and parenthood, social workers can contribute to the development of knowledge on how welfare systems can meet the challenges brought about by the new ideas of children's rights, social changes, globalisation, and the new ideological concepts of risk that have arisen in child welfare.