Parents’ emotional experiences of their contact with the Child Welfare Services: a synthesis of previous research- a research review

ABSTRACT

A number of studies have investigated parents’ experiences with the Child Welfare Services (CWS). The purpose of this review is to analyse previous research on how parents experience their contact with CWS. The aim is to determine current knowledge, and to provide a synthesis of current understandings. The main research question that guides this review is: What parental emotional experiences are evident in previous research and what activated them? Furthermore, we compared the experiences among the different countries represented in this study. The wicked problem concept and emotions, stress and coping theory informed the analysis. The revised framework for integrative review inspires the methodology and analysis. Data was collected through a computerized database search, networking and journal hand search. Fifteen articles are included in this review representing five countries: Norway, Australia, Canada, the US and the United Kingdom. The analysis shows that even though parents reported some positive experiences, the contact is often stressful and highly emotional. To various degrees, anger, sadness, fear and anxiety were common responses. This review indicates that relational and procedural aspects of the process and parents’ perception of help measures in child welfare evoked parents’ emotions. The findings reflect more similarities than differences in emotional experiences in the different countries. We conclude with a discussion of implications for social work practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Parental experiences
• emotions
• child welfare systems
• wicked problem
• integrative review

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Stavanger.