A B S T RA C TSocial support, as a complex, dynamic and multidimensional concept, has been studied extensively. However, a review of research publications on social support and parenting reveals that social work perspectives on social support are underdeveloped in the Social Sciences Citation Index. Social support is predominantly studied in relation to parental health, considering social support as a buffer against potential negative outcomes for children. This, in turn, legitimates extensive research on parents 'at risk'. Specific target groups have been questioned abundantly using social support measures, mainly consisting of self-reports. We conclude that social support is studied as a predefined concept, lacking conceptualizations that encompass the actual enacted support in relation to the perspectives of both givers and receivers of support. Moreover, the focus on targeted groups ignores the experience of social support in more diverse populations in general services and in everyday life. Issues of reciprocity, diversity and multivocality are central to our appeal for social work perspectives truly encompassing the relational aspect of social support. The question whether, and to what extent, social workers (including practitioners, policy-makers and researchers) should give attention to this relational aspect is discussed.
The present study illustrates that social support in ECEC settings can take place across several socio-economical and cultural borders. The presence of children as brokers of relations plays a fundamental role in the creation of social networks, in the processes of parenting support and community building. "Free confrontations" between parents and children can foster daily learning processes, despite/thanks to the contradictions and tensions that occur. This suggests that a meeting place can be a space where the experiment of democracy sporadically can emerge. In this experiment, parents, children and professionals are actors in the construction processes of parenting and community building. In so doing, parenting and living together, the pedagogical and the social, coincide. RésuméCette étude montre que le soutien social peut se réaliser dans les lieux d"accueil parentsenfants, au delà des barrières socio-économiques ou culturels. La présence des enfants comme déclencheurs de relations joue un rôle important dans la création de réseaux sociaux, dans le processus de soutien parental et dans la cohésion sociale. La « confrontation libre » entre parents et entre enfants favorise les apprentissages quotidiens, malgré ou grâce aux contradictions qu"elle engendre. Cela mène à penser que le lieu d"accueil parent enfants peut être un lieu ou des moments de démocratie peuvent surgir, signifiant des moments où parents, enfants et professionnels construisent la parentalité et le vivre-ensemble, là où l"éducatif et le social se rencontrent.ECEC as space for social support 3
We conducted a study of changes in the availability, accessibility and enrolment of children from low‐income, single‐parent and ethnic minority families in early child care centres. The study was carried out in Brussels which offers unique possibilities to study accessibility in a context in which quality and costs are controlled across centres. A survey on access policies in 89 day care centres, and on 150 mothers regarding their search process, was complemented by two focus groups attended by centre directors. The results were compared with data from a similar study we conducted in 2005. The results show that while inequality in availability has remained, centre directors' awareness of social priority criteria has changed, resulting in a significant increase in the enrolment of children from single‐parent and ethnic minority families, and – to a lesser extent – an increase in the enrolment of children from low‐income families. The results support the hypothesis that policy measures, combined with support, can influence inequalities in enrolment rates.
This paper aims to re-examine the social dimension of social support as the shared responsibility of social work and families in shaping social support rather than pressuring parents' individual responsibilities, as this has been a significantly under-theorised issue in social work research. In our qualitative study, we discuss parents' experiences of informal social support in Centres for Children and Parents (CCP) in two cities in Belgium. During 2012, six discussion groups were held with 29 mothers, three fathers and one nanny who visited one of the CCP included in the project. A broad topic list was used, investigating parents' first visit and motivations to return; their encounters with other children, parents and the professionals; and the actual role of the professional. Data were interpreted repeatedly using qualitative content analysis. The CCP focus on engaging with a wide diversity of parents of young children, not framed as 'at risk', reflecting the contemporary contexts of diversity in which these practices unfold. Our research shows that departing from an anti-essentialist approach to diversity and heterogeneity may be productive for the promotion of both social support and social cohesion as it captures social issues such as diverse and changing norms and values, diverse and changing family compositions, lifestyles and situations, and diverse and changing biographical, socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds of children and parents. As the CCP offer the opportunity of a confrontation between private issues and public concerns, social encounters between a diverse mix of families are experienced as supportive. While embracing parents' perspectives regarding equity, reciprocity, agency and social cohesion, it becomes clear that these processes of interaction require facilitation by a specific professional. In this article, we attempt to unravel and discuss the possible role(s) of social work in generating informal social support.
Sachant que la question de la cohésion sociale se pose de plus en plus dans nos villes et qu’un ensemble de recherches s’accordent aujourd’hui pour conclure que le soutien social (informel) est probablement l’une des formes de soutien à la parentalité les plus universelles, cet article analyse le potentiel des crèches pour contribuer à deux objectifs distincts mais liés : le soutien social, comme un soutien aux parents, et la cohésion sociale, comme objectif sociétal. Les données empiriques comprennent des observations effectuées dans deux crèches à Gand et à Bruxelles, des entretiens collectifs réalisés avec des parents usagers de ces crèches, des entretiens collectifs avec les personnels de ces crèches et des entretiens collectifs avec des parents qui fréquentent avec leurs enfants un lieu de rencontre parents et enfants (ontmoetingsplaats) à Bruxelles. Les résultats conduisent à penser que les expériences de lieux de rencontre parents-enfants pourraient inspirer les équipes des crèches.
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