6533b7ddfe1ef96bd12747e3

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The assessment of parenting in the child welfare practice

subject

description

Abstract This study analyzed how parenting and factors considered as important determinants of parental care are assessed in the child welfare practice during the placement process, using ethnographic content analysis of case records. The assessment of parenting and the factors affecting it was unsystematic and unplanned with no consistency between cases. The documentary mentions concerning the quality of parent-child relationships were surprisingly rare. The descriptions concentrated more on parents' problems than problems in parenting and the qualities of the parent-child relationship. This study indicated that apart from the need for systematized assessment methods in Finnish child welfare practice there is also a need for definition of the concept of parenting and the dimensions of the parent-child relationship that are central in assessing parenting in cases of child maltreatment.