Et maktperspektiv på «gode nok foreldre» i barnevernets kontekst

Abstract

SammendragArtikkelen tar utgangspunkt i uttrykket «gode nok foreldre» som barnevernsarbeidere i forskningsstudien «Fra tanker til teori: En studie om barnevernsarbeideres resonnering» bruker når de snakker om de barnevernfaglige vurderingene som de foretar. Dette begrepet er også anvendt i flere sammenhenger innenfor barne-og familieområdet, som for eksempel i dommer, faglitteratur og forskning. Det faktum at begrepet benyttes i ulike sammenhenger, har ikke bidratt til å klargjøre begrepet naermere betydning. I barnevernets praksis synes ikke «gode nok foreldre» å ha et naermere avgrenset innhold. Hvordan man forstår begrepet, hvilket innhold man gir det, er avhengig av hvilket perspektiv man inntar. Hva eller hvem som er «gode nok foreldre» er ikke et spørsmål som kan besvares enkelt og entydig, men som like fullt er et spørsmål som barnevernsarbeiderne vier mye oppmerksomhet. Det er også et sentralt spørsmål i interaksjonen som barnevernsarbeiderne har med familiene i barnevernet. I artikkelen stiller vi spørsmål ved hvordan uttrykket «gode nok foreldre» brukes som målestokk i barnevernet, og drøfter ulike implikasjoner med en slik praksis med utgangspunkt i Foucaults teorier om disiplineringsmakt.Nøkkelord: Barnevern, Foucault, normalitet, tilknytningsteori, gode nok foreldre Abstract This article discusses the term "good enough parents", which was found to be a key concern of the social workers in the study "Decisions about preventive measures in child welfare: Towards an understanding of social workers reasoning". The term is referred to in several domains of the child and family welfare field, including court cases, academic literature and research. While the term is frequently referred to, there is little consensus surrounding its exact meaning. "Good enough parents" is neither a concise term, nor does it have a defined content. It therefore appears both constructed and complex. How the term is understood, and which content is given to it, is dependent on perspective. The answer to what or whom may be considered "good enough parents" is certainly not clear-cut, yet it remains a topic of close consideration for social workers who assign important meaning to the term when interacting with the families in the child welfare services. The article questions the relative importance given to the term "good enough parents" as a benchmark in the child welfare services, and discusses the implications of such practices with reference to Foucault's theories of disciplinary power.

Talking about family with children in care proceedings: Constructions of “family” in an analysis of spokespersons’ accounts

“…What constitutes a “good enough’ family in child welfare case work is oftentimes vague and unclear (Choate and Engstrom, 2014; Langsrud et al, 2017). The study shows how a given culture’s shared meaning of family impacts practice within participatory processes.…”

“…There have been multiple calls for studies showing the ambiguities and complexities involved in children's participation in these contexts, especially with regard to family (Tisdall and Punch, 2012;Spyrou et al, 2019;Horgan et al, 2017). Moreover, limited research explores social workers' views of children's situations in child welfare with a focus on family relations (Jensen et al, 2019), and there is a knowledge gap regarding how familial relationships and a "good enough" family are defined in the professional field of child welfare case work (Choate and Engstrom, 2014;Langsrud et al, 2017).…”

Parenting and the State: Constructing Parental Responsibility by Democratic Neoliberal States

“…As these researchers have pointed out, women of limited means and having few privileges are seldom able to reach this ideal. As studies of the Norwegian child welfare system have shown, assessments of parental competence draw on attachment theory, emotional care, and risk perception [36,37]. This mother's experience with the CPS shares features with cases raised in recent years against the Norwegian child welfare system at the European Human Rights Court (EHRC) in Strasbourg, France [38].…”

Den barnevernskapte virkelighet:

“…L 106 (2012-2013), Barne-likestillingsog inkluderingsdepartementet (2013), følger det at foreldreomsorgen bør ivareta barnet på en slik måte at dets livssituasjon er innenfor det som regnes for å vaere en normal oppvekst for barn flest. Normalitet ved barnets oppvekstbetingelser og utvikling var også gjenstand for økt oppmerksomhet fra barnevernvernsarbeiderne i denne studien (Langsrud, Fauske & Lichtwarck, 2017). En «normal» oppvekst vil statistisk sett kunne bli relatert til en middelklasseoppvekst med dens tilhørende normalvariasjon.…”