In Denmark, most children have good lives and grow up in safe, well-rounded environments. However, 15% of Danish children and teens are not as fortunate and grow up in conditions where their future development is a cause for concern. These children and teens do not have parents who are capable of catering to their basic needs and therefore, they are, from a community perspective, are the most at risk.
In the field of social work, with the children that are at risk, more and more factors need to be considered from a social work perspective. Work in the public sector is often known for the interchanging challenges that influence the social worker’s job in the Family Services Department. One of the most discussed challenges is the social worker’s case load. A high case load, that for many social workers is way too high. The Union for Social Workers in Denmark implies that as a guide, the case load that social workers in Children Services should have responsibility for is between 25 and 35 cases. Other challenges can be departmental organization, or increasing bureaucratization, work pressure or stress. Legislation is furthermore a factor that plays a roll. Legislation in the social work sector changes often and social workers need to be up to date with these changes. These are some of the day to day challenges in social work. On the other hand, social work is a meaningful and challenging job, where social workers have the intentions of doing the job as well as they can, within the restraints put upon them. In other words, social workers strive to create change and to make a difference.
We have chosen to direct our focus towards the restrictions and amount of scope social workers must work with and the potential options that are available to them under The Regulations of Social Service §11, in relation to the early preventative efforts, with special focus on the economy of the department and whether it has an influence on this. We are convinced that social workers, in many of the country’s counties, feel pressured both in relation to the great time pressure and the economical boundaries. Also, there is the presumption that the Regulations of Social Work §11 are implemented differently in different counties and the economic boundaries control the preventative efforts that are available. We find it interesting how as social workers experience that it is the economic factors that control what can be offered, rather than the individual social workers assessment, which the law states should be the reason for a competent evaluation and decision.

To answer our case issue, we will use already existing samples in the form of different investigations and exact knowledge from researchers in this area. Also, we will collect samples in the form of qualitative interviews with specially chosen social workers in a family services department. Subsequently, we will analyse our collected data through Peter Høilund and Søren Juuls judgement concept and Pierre Bourdieus concept.