Perspektiver på omsorgsovertakelser: En kvalitativ studie av foreldre og barnevernsarbeideres erfaringer med omsorgsovertakelsesprosesser med tilknyttede problemområder

Abstract

Care orders are invasive measures with major implications for family life. This thesis is part of the social science research field and explores different perspectives related to care order processes. The thesis focuses on the process that arises when child welfare workers inform parents of the decision to initiate a care order process with the County Social Welfare Boards (County Boards). The overall objective of the thesis is to explore how the care order process can be experienced by both parents and child welfare workers, highlighting problem areas reflected in their stories. To answer the thesis objective, empirical knowledge was obtained from both parents and child welfare workers through semi-structured research interviews. The thesis is based on empirical data from 12 child welfare workers and 13 parents who all had experience from care order meetings. In these meetings parents are made aware of the child welfare service's decision to initiate a care order to the County Boards. The thesis consists of three articles. Article 1 explored how parents experienced receiving the notification of a care order initiative from child welfare workers and how it affected them in the care order meetings (the meeting where they were informed) and in the waiting time leading up to the County Boards’ consideration. Article 2 explored how child welfare workers experienced conveying bad news about a care order initiative to parents and how they coped with the task. Article 3 investigated whether parents felt positioned by child welfare workers in the care takeover process, whether they renegotiated these positions and whether they understood the grief as legitimate or illegitimate in light of the parental failure and society’s expectations of parenthood. The findings from Article 1 showed that parents experienced the message of a care order initiative as very unexpected, with the potential to put parents in crisis. Emotional responses also seemed to impair parents’ ability to receive information and participate in the cases. In addition, findings indicates that parents (and children) may be in dire need of follow-up after the care order meeting and during the waiting period leading up to County Boards’ assessment of the case. Article 2 showed that child welfare workers experienced breaking bad news of a care order process as highly demanding, challenging their personal and professional capacity. In addition, the findings revealed that caseworkers could exercise coping strategies that possibly compromise parents’ right to information and participation. The findings from article 3 showed that parents experienced being positioned in failing, harmful and almost dehumanised parenting positions by child welfare workers. The parents used different strategies in their attempts to renegotiate these positions, which we interpreted as a form of valuation work. Nevertheless, the analysis revealed that parents understood the loss of daily care as illegitimate grief that lacked societal recognition. The articles’ findings brought together several problem areas related to the care order process. The findings suggested that the care order process may threaten parents’ legal rights. In addition, the findings indicated that child welfare workers may struggle to manage the complexity of care order processes. Moreover, care order processes might lead to unintended stigmatisation of the parents. The thesis’s findings contribute important insight by providing empirical knowledge about how parents and child welfare workers may experience care order processes. Furthermore, by highlighting implications, the thesis may also impact practice, policy and education.