Collaboration and conversations with children in Child Welfare Services —Parents' viewpoint

Collaboration and conversations are important in meeting vulnerable children's needs in the context of Child Welfare Services (CWS). Building on 10 qualitative interviews with parents of children in Norwegian Child Welfare Services, this paper discusses parents' views on collaboration between children and child welfare professionals. The parents stated that a constructive collaborative relationship depends on professionals' attitudes towards the child, their ability to connect with the child and their awareness of how the child's emotions and how the parents influence the child–professional relationship. A collaborative relationship is essential for child welfare professionals to meet the child's needs and to help improve relations between the child and the parents. The parents asked for more collaboration between children and child welfare professionals. The findings call for more discussion of child welfare workers' tasks and competence.     

Lesbian and gay individuals' path into foster parenting in Norway—Barriers and facilitators at the person and system levels

Growing numbers of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) people are becoming foster parents in several western countries. The LGBTQ perspective on the child welfare system has received little attention in practice, research and policy. Despite their increased rights, LGBTQ foster parents continue to face challenges related to fostering. Knowledge is needed on LGBTQ individual perceptions of the process of becoming foster parents, including barriers and facilitating factors. This paper reports on the experiences of 13 gay or lesbian foster parents in Norway. The study shows a lack of knowledge about the possibility of becoming foster parents due to lack of information directed at them as a minority group. Participants felt vulnerable and experienced “minority stress” before encountering the child welfare system, while mainly experienced the encounter with the staff as good and respectful. Although several valued being treated “like everyone else” by the system, others questioned why LGBTQ-specific parenting issues were not raised and discussed. Apart from lack of information, the process towards foster parenting seemed mostly hampered by participants' own assumptions that sexual identity would be a barrier and to some extent biological parents' refusal. The study suggests that foster care and child welfare services would benefit from information in recruitment of foster parents, aiming at being more inclusive. Furthermore, we address gender and sexuality diversity related to foster care work and highlight the strengths and challenges it may offer.     

How Moroccan‐Dutch parents learn in communities of practice: Evaluating a bottom‐up parenting programme

Research shows that top‐down‐designed parenting programmes do not always meet the needs of postmigration parents. Bottom‐up programmes by migrant organizations hold a promise to fill this gap; however, research about these programmes and appropriate evaluation methodologies is scarce. Drawing upon Wenger's ( 2010 ) “communities of practice,” this paper explores an alternative perspective on parenting programme evaluation. Findings are presented from a study looking into social learning processes of postmigration parents who participated in a bottom‐up programme about raising teenagers in urban areas. Using an ethnographically inspired method combined with a preprogramme and postprogramme design, 115 Moroccan‐Dutch mothers and fathers from 15 programme groups participated. Results show that the programme provided a social learning space in which parents used themselves as resources to learn collectively about parenting. Moreover, parents consciously engaged in learning interactions across learning spaces stretched into their social networks. These analyses showed how parents' development of “learning citizenship” (Wenger, 2009 ) provides us with insight in collective learning dimensions present in a bottom‐up parenting programme, which is often not included in evaluation studies. Implications for practitioners as facilitators of parents' collective learning are presented.     

Child‐centric or family focused? A study of child welfare workers' perceptions of ethnic minority children in England and Norway

This paper analyses child welfare workers' perceptions of ethnic minority children in England and Norway based on in‐depth interviews with 52 child welfare workers in 2008. We employ a child‐centric theoretical framework to explore up to what extent workers focus on minority children in their perceptions. We found that about half of our study participants (n= 27) did so, and many more in Norway than England. They perceived many risks and problems for minority children related to their ethnicity, including children's biculturalism and language skills, parenting methods, unequal treatment and racism, lack of social inclusion, and problems in school. Norwegian workers displayed a broad needs perception and embraced a change‐orientated perspective and held parents accountable for their children's educational success and social inclusion. English workers had a narrower approach, focusing on protecting children. We discuss how the cross‐country differences may be related to different welfare state and child welfare paradigms.     

Learning from parents: A qualitative interview study on how parents experience their journey through the Dutch child protection system

The quality of parents' experiences with the child protection system (CPS) is related to the outcomes of their family's process in the system. The importance of collaboration with parents in child protection is underpinned by human and children's rights conventions addressing the right for family life and parents being first responsible in fulfilling children's rights. We interviewed 20 parents about their experiences with the Dutch CPS. Our thematic analysis shows that a CPS serving the best interests of their children is most important to parents. To realize this, professionals should (1) “not let it happen but do something,” (2) “get a clear picture of the family's situation,” and (3) “take parents seriously.” Parents emphasize that a system providing sufficient “money, time, and knowledge” is needed to facilitate professionals. Their experiences seem to influence their trust in the system and their attitude towards it. This study shows new insights in parents' experiences, such as their advice to professionals to determine the truth and to be decisive. This deepened knowledge about parents' experiences is essential for evaluating and improving the CPS.     

Racial Disparities in Welfare Dependence and Financial Independence: Links to Human Capital,Local Economy,and State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Policies

This secondary data analysis examined racial disparities in associations betwen welfare dependence/financial independence and human capital, local economy, and state TANF policies. A sample of 6,737 parents was extracted from the public-use data set titled “National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.” Results showed that restrictive TANF policies reduced African Americans’ likelihood of welfare use and increased likelihood of their financial independence. Multinomial logistic results also showed that, among Hispanics, employment growth in neighboring counties promoted welfare use; whereas among Caucasians such growth promoted financial independence. County poverty increased (a) Caucasians’ likelihood of welfare use and (b) Hispanics’ likelihood of being working poor; it decreased Caucasians’ and African Americans’ likelihood of financial independence. Across ethnic groups, education reduced likelihood of welfare use and working poor status; across minority groups, education increased likelihood of financial independence, but among Caucasians it decreased such likelihood. Across ethnic groups, occupational skills hindered dependence and improved odds of employment (regardless of welfare or poverty status). This study concluded the studied TANF policies and job markets were not color-blind. Interventions this study implies include less-restrictive TANF policies, generous support services, TANF staff cultural-competence training, and antidiscrimination rules. Research investigating particular TANF policies’ and services’ effects by ethnicity might prove useful.     

Parents' roles and question‐asking during pretend and real activities

All activities—real and pretend—provide children opportunities to learn new facts and skills, and parents are often facilitators. Yet little is known about whether and how parents' roles and interactions differ during pretend versus real activities. Here, we examine whether parents self‐report adopting different roles during pretend and real activities and whether we observe changes in their behavior, in particular in their question‐asking; either could impact the potential learning opportunities available to children. Thirty‐two parents engaged their 4‐year ‐olds in one pretend and one real activity (cleaning and snacking, counterbalanced). They self‐reported their roles, and speech was transcribed and coded. Parents regarded their role as a partner in fun during pretend and as a teacher or monitor during real activities. Across pretend and real contexts, they mostly asked information‐seeking questions, followed by rhetorical and pedagogical questions. They asked significantly more questions during pretend than real activities, particularly rhetorical questions. During real activities, parents' roles were not related to the number or types of questions they asked. However, during pretend, their roles were related to the number of rhetorical questions they asked: Monitors asked significantly fewer than teachers. Possible complementary benefits of each activity based on patterns of roles and questions are discussed.     

Emergency out‐of‐home placements in Norway: Parents' experiences

The number of emergency placements of children has increased rapidly in Norway over the recent years. Nevertheless, there is little knowledge about how parents experience the processes involved in emergency placements. We conducted 64 survey interviews with parents who have experienced this kind of placement of their children. One third of the participants' children had received interventions prior to the emergency placement. Another third were known by Child Welfare Services (CWS) through reports of concern, which were dismissed without interventions and, in some cases, without investigation. The final third had no prehistory from CWS ahead of the emergency placement. A large proportion of the participants emphasized that they had experienced problems for a long time and had earlier requests for help unmet. Another large group of parents notified CWS themselves, and some of them wanted their child emergency placed. On the basis of parents' experiences, we suggest different implications for practice: (a) CWS should be more thorough in their investigation and assessment of the families, both when it comes to reports of concern and evaluation of initiated interventions. (b) Planned placement should be promoted to a greater degree, wherever possible. (c) A greater emphasis on follow‐up of parents after emergency placements is needed.     

Parents' perceptions of contact with the Norwegian Child Welfare Services

Listening to the opinions of service users is important in research. This study explored how parents cognitively and emotionally perceive contact with the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (CWS). It also compared the reports of parents recently referred to the CWS with reports of more experienced users. A content analysis was conducted on open‐ended survey responses from parents (n = 697). This study fills a gap in the literature on how parents perceive contact with the CWS and what they see as important factors when judging this contact. The findings showed that 40.6% of the parents reported exclusively positive experiences, 30.7% of the parents reported solely negative experiences, while 24% of the parents described both positive and negative experiences. The content of the positive and negative experiences were related to characteristics of the child welfare workers, the quality of the relationship, the help offered and the parent's feelings of insecurity and fear. New CWS users tended to view the contact as more positive than the more experienced ones. Practical implications are presented.     

How do immigrant parents of children with complex health needs manage to cope in their daily lives?

Daily life with children who have complex health needs can be stressful for parents. Immigrant parents are vulnerable to stress because they may lack language skills and knowledge about the health care system and have limited social networks. In this study, we focus on how immigrant parents of children with complex health needs use emotion‐focused and problem‐focused coping strategies to manage their daily life, and how their self‐efficacy and the immigration process may affect their coping. This qualitative study had an exploratory design with individual and focus group interviews. The sample comprised 27 parents—18 mothers and 9 fathers—from Pakistan, Poland, and Vietnam. The findings indicated that the parents' love for their child helps them to cope in their daily life. Newly arrived migrants, single mothers with a severely ill child who lacked support and migrant parents with language difficulties struggle to cope. Some of the stress is related to personal, social and structural problems, and to the insufficient resources available to meet the child's needs. The parents used both emotion‐focused and problem‐focused coping strategies. The parents noted that access to both universal and selective welfare services is an important factor that contributed to their self‐efficacy and coping.     

The rights of the child and ethnic minority families in Sweden

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was launched in 1989 and is ratified in most countries. The UNCRC is considered by child welfare authorities worldwide to be an essential document that aims to improve the rights of children. However, contemporary research indicates that the UNCRC is an obstacle to social work because it emphasizes the legal equality between children and adults. This finding prompts the question of how Western child protection agencies conduct child protection encounters with families with a non-Western ethnic background. The present article aims to examine if specific articles in the UNCRC can serve as a medium for improving social work with ethnic minority families within the child protection sector in Sweden. This article is based on a research project concerning youths with an ethnic minority background in out-of-home care. Relevant articles in the UNCRC are revealed to be potentially helpful to child protection programmes involving ethnic minority families because these articles emphasize considering the perspective of the child and strengthening parenting skills. However, child protection agencies must consider how the UNCRC can be used to teach parents or guardians to understand and acknowledge the perspective of the child without violating the values of the family.     

National Identity,Citizenship and Immigration: Putting Identity in Context

In this paper we suggest that there is a need to examine what is meant by “context” in Social Psychology and present an example of how to place identity in its social and institutional context. Taking the case of British naturalisation, the process whereby migrants become citizens, we show that the identity of naturalised citizens is defined by common‐sense ideas about Britishness and by immigration policies. An analysis of policy documents on “earned citizenship” and interviews with naturalised citizens shows that the distinction between “elite” and “non‐elite” migrants is evident in both the “reified” sphere of policy and the “common sense” sphere of everyday identity construction. While social representations embedded in lay experience construct ethno‐cultural similarity and difference, immigration policies engage in an institutionalised positioning process by determining migrants' rights of mobility. These spheres of knowledge and practice are not disconnected as these two levels of “managing otherness” overlap—it is the poorer, less skilled migrants, originating outside the West who epitomise difference (within a consensual sphere) and have less freedom of mobility (within a reified sphere). We show that the context of identity should be understood as simultaneously psychological and political.     

A comparison of systems and outcomes for safeguarding children in Australia and Norway

Using aggregated national data, this paper compares outcomes of Australian ‘child protection’ (CP) and Norwegian ‘child welfare services’ (CWS). We highlight each nation's context and key elements of their CP/CWS organizations, with emphasis on policy and programme orientation. System outcomes are examined along with the implications of their different approaches. The main policy focus in Australia is protection and risk, while Norway's systemic approach stresses prevention, early intervention and support. These differences influence practitioner's intervention strategies and how the needs of children and parents are met. In Norway, approximately 80% of the children in the CWS receive some sort of supportive services. In contrast, Australian services for supporting families are narrowly targeted. Both countries share the ‘best interest of the child’ principle and an increased focus on children's rights, and have experienced increased service demands and rates of children in out‐of‐home care. The paper explores the relative merits of these systems.     

The "Employment-first" Welfare State: Lessons from the New Deal for Young People

New Labour is constructing an “employment‐first” welfare state. It plans through Jobcentre Plus to transform the passive culture of the benefit system by creating more explicit links between individual behaviour and engagement with labour market programmes. The New Deal for Young People (NDYP) has been at the forefront of these changes. This paper reports on the findings from four case studies that explored how the NDYP has changed young people's experience of the welfare state. It establishes that NDYP offers a mixture of employment assistance and “pressure” and has made progress in developing front‐line services and helping young long‐term unemployed people into work. NDYP does not, however, work for all. In areas of high unemployment and for some disadvantaged groups intermediate labour markets could enhance the New Deal and make real the offer of “employment opportunities for all”.     

Jumping through hoops – the cost of compliance on sole parents

Australian governments along with other western countries have made significant changes to the welfare system with a focus on encouraging sole parents on social security payments to move into paid work. This paper reports on in‐depth interviews with 48 sole parents about their experiences with the welfare‐to‐work process and with a range of other services. Although parents reported some positive encounters, they also described a range of negative experiences, including how they needed to repeatedly prove their entitlement to help, leaving them feel as if they were undeserving of support. The study has demonstrated that it is often the most vulnerable parents who feel under close scrutiny and who have to work extra hard to get the help they need. These experiences can also see them disengaging from services. The findings show how the current policy environment adds to the complexity of sole parents' lives reinforcing their disadvantage.     

Dual conditionality in welfare and housing for lone parents in Ireland: Change and continuity?

This article focuses on multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing from the perspective of lone parents in Ireland. The Irish case echoes historical experiences elsewhere and is offered not as an exceptional or extreme case but as an in-depth single case study and a lens for comparison. Although contemporary forms and combinations of conditionalities are new to Ireland, the experience of multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing is not new. Hence, a historical perspective is used to examine contemporary multiple conditionalities in benefits and housing. In the past, conditional regimes for lone parents were justified in terms of moral reformation for first time mothers and avoiding moral contagion of mothers with subsequent pregnancies. In contemporary times, in the case of employment, lone parents are problematised as working part-time and “nesting” on in-work-benefits, and in the case of homelessness, lone parents who prioritise the security of tenure embedded in social housing are accused of “gaming” the system. While acknowledging ambiguities, the paper finds the overlap of welfare and housing discourses contribute, intentionally or unintentionally, to epistemological foundations or understandings of lone parents, shifting public perceptions, and framing them as “problems” to be solved. They simultaneously temper lone parents' expectations. Increased precarity and disempowerment is associated with dual conditionality, and ontological uncertainty is multiplied when experienced cumulatively across employment, social protection, and housing regimes in a context of generally poor public services and labour market precarity and in the historical context of stigmatisation. Nonetheless, lone parents demonstrate considerable agency.     

Co‐production,governance and practice: The dynamics and effects of User Voice Prison Councils

Drawing on Bevir's (2013) decentered theory of governance, and Donati's (2016) theory of the relational subject, this article explores how User Voice Prison Councils in England have contributed to shifts in aspects of prison governance and practice. It discusses the cultural and policy context in which the Councils emerged and operate before exploring their perceived purposes, dynamics, and effects. User Voice Prison Councils represent an important example of different actors co‐producing alternative patterns of governance through innovations in democratic participation. Interviews with Prison Council participants, User Voice and prison staff revealed that the development of such “bottom–up” participatory governance practices require and restore interpersonal trust, the mechanisms of which are interactions underpinned by a distinct manner of relating and the establishment of a network of relations oriented to the common good. The effects include enhanced institutional legitimacy; improvements in prison officer‐prisoner relations; and greater quality of life for prisoners. Revealing the “how” of co‐production, from the “inside”, the argument advanced here is that while the effects of co‐production may be more ameliorative than transformative, such collaborative and dialogic approaches can enable differently situated people to forge new norms of interactions and forms of democratic participation to achieve collective goals.     

Norwegian child welfare workers' perceptions of emergency placements

Emergency placements in child welfare services have increased during the last 10 years in Norway. At the time of placement, some of these children have been in the child welfare system for several years. Based on qualitative interviews, our study explores Norwegian child welfare workers' perceptions of long‐term cases resulting in emergency placements. The participants reported that they felt they had intervened too late, as it took them too long to understand the severity of the situation. This occurred mainly due to three factors: (a) The work had mainly been based on the parents' premises; (b) having too much distance to the child, as they talked too little with the child, too late in the process; (c) an experience of lacking methodological skills needed and sufficient opportunities to conduct proper observations and assessments; (d) supportive measures were tried for too long, and these measures were not properly evaluated. Giving other professionals' assessments considerable weight in the decision‐making process, and the use of legal language rather than independent, professional assessments, can be seen as another way of distancing themselves from both the family and the decisions being made.     

Inclusive foster care: How foster parents support cultural and relational connections for Indigenous children

How do foster parents support the relational and cultural connections of Indigenous children in care? The answer matters; the well‐being of Indigenous children depends on these connections. At one of Canada's largest Indigenous child welfare agencies, we implemented inclusive foster care, an approach requiring foster parents to engage with the family, community, and cultural life of the child for whom they care. Fifteen years later, we present findings from a thematic analysis of interviews with 13 foster parents who participated in a mixed methods study exploring inclusive foster care. We discuss foster parent strategies to support the child's family relationships: setting clear boundaries, rolling with inconsistency, and understanding the family's (hi)stories. Strategies to strengthen cultural connectedness include visiting traditional territory, using personal initiative and Indigenous knowledge, and engaging in school‐based and “multi‐purpose” cultural opportunities. Drawing on foster parent stories of success, we propose ways for social workers, foster parents, and policymakers to address the cultural and relational disruption that characterizes the experience of Indigenous children in care in colonial settler societies.     

Ethnic Attitudes Among Minority and Majority Children: The Role of Ethnic Identification, Peer Group Victimization and Parents

This study examines the relative importance of key variables proposed by intergroup and social learning theories for understanding ethnic attitudes. The focus is on how ethnic identification, perceived parental attitudes and victimization by peers are related to ethnic attitudes. The sample includes Dutch (N = 295) and Turkish (N = 158) children (10–12 years of age) in the Netherlands. For both ethnic groups, stronger ethnic identification is related to more positive in‐group evaluation, and a higher degree of victimization relates to more negative out‐group evaluation. Furthermore, parental attitudes are related to out‐group evaluation. Higher perceived in‐group favoritism among parents was related to a less positive evaluation of the out‐group. In addition, Turkish parental attitudes turn out to be related to ethnic identification and in‐group evaluation. Further analyses suggest that the effect of perceived parental attitudes on children's group evaluations is not only due to projection. It is concluded that the study of ethnic attitudes among children should focus on group identification as well as on the social influences of parents and peers. Furthermore, it is important to distinguish between in‐group and out‐group aspects of ethnic attitudes and to include both majority and minority children.