Project: Family complexity and social work. A comparative study of family-based welfare work in different welfare regimes
In the era of globalisation, family policies and social care services are at the intersection of increasingly diverse family situations and complex welfare state environments. This project contributes to Norface Call themes 1,2, and 5; People, Inequalities/diversity, and Shifting responsibilities, and will compare policies and family-based social work in different family policy regimes and service areas: child welfare, drug/alcohol abuse, migrating families and disabilities. The purpose is to analyse how social workers across different contexts understand notions of family and how they describe their own practices and outcomes with families. This study uses empirical data from eight countries (Norway, Sweden, England, Ireland, Chile, Mexico, Lithuania and Bulgaria) representing four different family policy regimes (de-familialised, partly de-familialised, familialised and re-familialised). Existing data relevant to family policies from Eurostat, the OECD and other databases will be used. Additional national statistics and documents detailing the organisational structure of services will be collected. Thirty two focus groups (eight countries; four service areas) will be held using semi-structured interviews and case vignettes, engaging researchers from the three university partners of Sweden, Norway and UK, with co-operation partners in the other five countries. The project will add to theoretical analyses of welfare regimes, family policy, professional discretion, and contribute methodologically to cross-national research. End-users from policy-makers to social workers will benefit from new knowledge about different conceptions of the family and how these impact services provided.
| Acronym | FACSK (Reference Number: 462-14-141) |
| Duration | 01/01/2015 - 31/12/2017 |
| Project Topic | welfare state futures |
|
Project Results (after finalisation) |
not available yet |
| Website | visit project website |
| Network | WSF |
| Call | NORFACE Welfare State Futures |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Umea University | Coordinator | Sweden |
| 2 | University of Stavanger | Partner | Norway |
| 3 | University of Birmingham | Partner | United Kingdom |