ABSTRACT

Families subject to child protection services are often in a marginalised position with less resources to live up to normative expectations of parenthood. Statutory social workers and parents often hold conflicting views regarding the child’s needs and the family situation, and their relationship is asymmetric leaving the parents with less power to define the situation. This is legitimised in the child’s need for protection and care. However, parents and families can also be vulnerable. Therefore, a core ethical concern is how to act carefully in consideration of different positions and perceptions. In this article, we argue that within such a context of state power and service delivery ethical reflection is crucial, but in a way that makes visible the connection between power and care. Consequently, we offer an analysis of the connection between power and care in statutory social work that captures core ethical, relational and professional dilemmas. This analysis combines notions from care ethics with sociological perspectives on power, conflict, trust, recognition and social suffering, and is illustrated by the case Cecilia and her children. Based on this, we suggest possibilities for care ethics in statutory social work and further research on care and power.

摘要

接受儿童保护服务的家庭往往处于边缘地位，资源较少，无法满足父母的规范期望。法定社工和家长往往对孩子的需要和家庭状况持有不同的看法，而且他们的关系是不对称的，使家长没有足够的权力来定义情况。这在儿童需要保护和照顾方面是合法的。然而，父母和家庭也可能是脆弱的。因此，一个核心的伦理问题是如何根据不同的立场和看法谨慎行事。在本文中，我们认为在这种国家权力和服务提供的背景下，道德反思至关重要，但以一种使权力与关怀之间的联系可见的方式。最后，我们对法定社会工作中的权力与关怀之间的联系进行了分析，以捕捉核心的道德、关系和专业困境。该分析将护理伦理的概念与关于权力、冲突、信任、认可和社会苦难的社会学观点相结合，并通过案例加以说明塞西莉亚和她的孩子们。在此基础上，我们提出了法定社会工作中关怀伦理的可能性，以及关怀和权力的进一步研究。