Suchergebnisse

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.

AbstractSocial 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.

Introduction : from the politically impossible to the politically inevitable -- On commodification and decommodification -- Resisting children as human capital -- Resisting the consumentality of parents -- Resisting the alienation of the workforce -- Conclusions.

AbstractIntegrated services in preventive health care and child and family social work increasingly embrace the concept of proportionate universalism (PU) as a means of overcoming the dichotomy between universal and targeted services in contexts of diversity. The implementation of the concept of PU raises several theoretical and empirical questions that form the basis of this article. This study aims to provide more insight in how the concept of PU is operationalized in child and family social work. Qualitative research was performed in three specific cases of child and family social work, the so‐called "Huizen van het Kind" or Children's Houses in Flanders (Belgium). The study triangulates three perspectives: policy, organizational level, and street level. The findings generate three meta‐themes: perseverant structuring of populations or predefinitions, image and conceptualization of the Children's House, and organizational challenges. These results reveal a difference between the theoretical assumption of PU and the practical implementation in child and family social work.

In response to the global financial crisis, social policies in Europe and elsewhere incorporated a logic of social investment to reduce (child) poverty and social inequality. Several critiques, however, have been raised against the narrowness of this discourse. In order to introduce another way of seeing, an interview study was conducted inspired by the interpretative paradigm of lifeworld orientation. This has allowed us to acquire a critical, in‐depth understanding of the consequences of economic downturn and unemployment for families with young children (0–3 years old), from their point of view. Findings highlight the importance of listening to parents here and now, in order to be able to take account of their concrete, lived realities within the context of the broader society and critically assess these realities according to principles of human dignity and social justice. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

In order to take into account the power imbalances typically implicated in knowledge production about the complex social problem of poverty, social work researchers have increasingly acknowledged the importance of grasping the viewpoints and perspectives of people in poverty situations. In this contribution, we accordingly reflect on a current life history research project that retrospectively explores the life stories of parents with young children with regard to their mobility into and out of poverty that is examined in dynamic interaction with social work interventions. In this article, we discuss methodological and ethical challenges and complexities that we unexpectedly encountered in our research venture, as illustrated by three exemplary vignettes. These examples demonstrate issues of power between the researcher and the research participants that are not only inevitable, but also generate dilemmas, struggles and ambiguities that often remain underexposed in the ways scientific insights are reported. Rather than disguising these pits and bumps, we argue for a reflexive research stance which makes these issues of power in knowledge production susceptible to contemplation and scrutiny.

AbstractIn current European Welfare states, Child and Family Social Work has been assigned a pivotal role in constructing a route out of (child) poverty. The direction, processes and outcomes of these interventions are, however, rarely negotiated with the families involved. Based on a retrospective biographical research with parents of young children who experienced financial difficulties over time, this paper therefore seeks to uncover and understand how parents give meaning to welfare which strategies they accordingly develop and how these perspectives and welfare strategies interact with Child and Family Social Work interventions. We aim to acquire knowledge about how interventions are constructed, interpreted and being used as potentially supportive levers in realizing the well‐being of parents and children in poverty situations and explore how they may influence families' routes out of poverty. Drawing on Lister's analytical framework of agency within the bounds of structural constraints, our research provides insights in the essentially complex, multi‐layered and paradoxical nature of support and suggests that support cannot simply be perceived as synonymous to mobility out of poverty.

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.

AbstractIn this contribution, we focus on the question of how social workers actually deal with the complexity of sharing private information in three local networks of social provision that aim to combat child poverty. Building on the existing body of social work research, we discuss how practices for exchanging private information are enmeshed in a field of tension between both regulation and discretion. This complexity reveals a major challenge for social workers to justify their interventions. Based on a combination of qualitative semi-structured interviews with social workers in the network and participant observation during the network meetings, we examine the strategies of discretion, considerations and potential justifications of social workers in dealing with private information. Our analysis reveals three major themes: (i) legitimacy to act, (ii) deserving versus undeserving families and (iii) powerlessness to collectively act. We conclude that a rights-based approach can be crucial as a normative value orientation and as a point of reference to enable social workers in justifying how and why they exchange private information about families in poverty situations.