The new concept of Displaying Family shows how family life must not only be 'done' but also be 'seen to be done'. Both family members and external audiences need to recognise what is being conveyed during such displays—and to accept them—for these displays to be considered successful. Hence, there are multiple potential audiences for family displays. Drawing on empirical research, the article applies this important conceptual development to a study of the role of family in promoting community connectedness in a UK city which is becoming increasingly culturally diverse. Specifically, it examines the use of family display by migrant families and the observation of this by multiple audiences. The paper will consider early findings on the impact family display has on the forging of interactions and connectedness between communities and the development of a 'world building' rather than a 'nation building' sensibility. By acknowledging that the ideology of the family has both overarching themes but contextually varied interpretations, it will examine the potential of family displays—and their receipt—to allow the recognition of similarities between culturally diverse groups and to bridge the differences that extend beyond family. The article will present data from individual and group interviews with migrant families, including children, and other potential audiences of family displays to illustrate the application of this new concept.

Within Northern Europe, gendered roles and responsibilities within the family have been challenged through an emergence of different family forms, increasing cultural diversity, and progressive developments in welfare policies. To varying degrees, welfare policies in different countries support a dual-earner model and encourage men to be more active as fathers by reinforcing statutory rights and responsibilities. In child welfare practice, there has traditionally been a strong emphasis on the mother as primary carer for the child; the father has been less visible. This paper explores, in four national welfare contexts, how child welfare social workers include fathers in practice decisions. Data were collected using focus group interviews with social workers from England, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden. Similarities and differences emerge in relation to services and the focus of social work assessments. However, overall, the research suggests that despite gains in policy and legislation that promote gender equality, fathers remain largely absent in child welfare practice decisions about the parenting of their children. From the research, we raise questions for social work practice and the development of welfare policies.

This article draws on the narratives of 10 migrant families living in a predominantly White British northern UK city, Hull, and brings together the typically distinct fields of the sociology of family, transnational family studies and migration studies. By uniquely applying the lens of family display to migrant family accounts, this article offers a timely new way to understand the strategies migrant families employ when negotiating recognition and validation in an increasingly globalised world. Existing applications of family display focus on what might be referred to as unconventional families: same-sex couples, dual-heritage families, single-parent households, and families living in commercial homes. Furthermore, previous migration studies consider the strategies employed by migrant individuals, sometimes within a family, but do not do so through the lens of family display. The concept has not, then, been applied to migrant families and their everyday lives, and with a specific focus on understanding the influence of audience in family display. This article, therefore, contributes to migration and transnational family studies by providing a new way of understanding migrant family lives, and also advancing the concept of family display in three clear ways: by showing that migrant families do display family to audiences beyond the family–including the State–so as to present as a ‘legitimate’ family; by expanding understanding of how family display is enacted; and by arguing that broader narratives influence those related to ‘family’ and impact on how and why migrant families engage in family displays.

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Although contemporary sociological thought reports a diversification of family forms in society, ‘the family’ continues to influence national and international political agendas. Social workers, as ‘street level bureaucrats’, are social agents that both work with citizens and implement policies made by senior officials. Despite this, the extent to which conceptual and policy developments in family diversity manifest in family-based social work practice remains under explored. This article brings together the findings of two comparative studies, and explores the transfer of conceptual understandings of family, and policy, in England, through two examples: gendered caring expectations and culturally located familial norms. Significantly, we show that, when prompted, social workers recognise family complexity and diversity, but myriad constraints complicate the application of these understandings, and related policies. Bringing together literature from sociology, social policy and social work, this article, thereby, offers a unique lens and highlights a lag between conceptual developments, policy and implementation.

This article explores ways in which gender equality, family policy and child welfare social work intersect in four countries: England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Over time, conditions for gender equality in parenting have improved, partly due to family policy developments removing structural barriers. These changes, however, vary between countries; Sweden and Norway are considered more progressive as compared with the UK and Ireland. Here, we draw on focus group data collected from child welfare social workers in England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden to compare these different contextual changes and how these are reflected in related social work practice decisions. The focus group discussions were based on a vignette, and thematic analysis was applied. Overall, welfare social workers are aware of the need to support gender equality in parenting, there is a heavy focus on mothers in child welfare practice decisions, and fathers are largely absent. Uniquely, we show that this is influenced by both a strong child-centred perspective, and a gendered risk perspective, in which fathers are seen to pose more risk to the children than mothers.

In this paper we develop the concept of family display by responding to David Morgan’s suggestion that researchers should consider whether ‘family displays’ are used to convey a ‘type’ of Family. We do so by applying the concept to the accounts of migrant family children living in an English city, and those of adults that grew-up in Mennonite communities in Mexico and Canada. Analysis uniquely shows that migrant family children do display a type of ‘Family’, and that this is influenced by familial constructs privileged by intended audiences. We contribute further by arguing that whilst some families do display core values attached to Family ‘types’, this is not the case in the example of the Mennonite community and researchers should be cognisant of applying this concept to all contexts. This is because the priority for display may not be the presentation of legitimate Family, but other features of collective identity.

This themed section brings together the disciplines of sociology, social work and social policy in order to examine the ways in which contemporary familial diversity is recognised in comparative welfare state regimes. Contributors interrogate the ways in which such diversity is supported in national legislation, policy developments and acknowledged in everyday social work practice. In doing so, the section examines if and how these demographic trends and sociological conceptualisations are reflected in comparative welfare state systems and/or policy related to family. Selected articles will also consider if and how social workers, as ‘street level bureaucrats’ (Lipsky, 1980), incorporate these changes in familial structures, and related policy, into their decision making processes and everyday practice.