Does social work care? Practising care in social work with vulnerable children and their families

This article investigates how care is practised and made possible in social work with vulnerable children and their families in Danish child welfare and protection services. It seeks to contribute to our knowledge of forms of professional care in social work by examining two case-examples of, how social work practice is performed in interaction with families who are subjects of a child examination or a family network-based intervention. By examining caring practices in situations marked by potentially conflicting values, interests and needs in this particular social and political context, the article contributes to illuminating how changes in the relations between the state, family and child on a macro level, are reflected in the way care is practised on a micro level.