An important responsibility of the social worker is to decide whether a child should be removed from its biological parents and where the child is to be placed. Different options are available – regular foster homes, 24-hour care centers or kinship care. The last option has recently evoked interest among researchers, professionals and politicians in Denmark, an interest that is probably caused by a combination of low cost and some positive results.
In spite of the increasing interest in kinship care it is rarely used by social workers in local authorities in Denmark. This paradox operates as a focal point for this thesis in which the social workers use, and understanding of kinship care is investigated.
The social workers’ different knowledge types, understandings and consequences of these are investigated in the thesis. The consequences show that even though many social workers express positive understandings of kinship care, they do not know how to translate this understanding into praxis. It is suggested that the reason for the gap between expressed understanding and conducted social work is that the social workers act partly unaware of their own personal position, prejudice and choice of theory.
The thesis concluded with a discussion of how the social worker can and ought to operate as an actor in the social field. Here we try to explain how social workers’ can act more reflectively, thus making them more aware of their use of theories and potential personal positions that may affect their work.