Emotional practices of care and expectations of cost-effectiveness in social work with children and families in Denmark

Research shows that emotional practices are a basic aspect of social work. This article provides knowledge about emotional practices of care in social work with children and families in Denmark in the context of governmental and managerial expectations of the cost-effectiveness of social work. Based on a Danish qualitative research project Does social work care? Exploring relational, emotional and embodied practices in social services for vulnerable children and families (2018–2023), this article identifies and presents three emotional practices: Creating a feeling of a close and authentic mutual relationship with children and parents; Being tough and maintain professional authority by distributing attention to the child and by demanding parental responsibility, and Emotional endurance based on knowledge, solidarity and sympathy with disadvantaged families. These practices reveal a differentiated socioemotional economy of sympathy and care in social work with families that interact with incentives to take the level and use of services into account. Based on these findings, the article discusses this trend and its implications for social work and suggests further research that can illuminate the broader landscape of emotional practices in different socio-economic context of sympathy and care.