Browsing by Author "Kuusinen, Veera"

The aim of this study was to find out experiences of day care and school workers about collaboration with families during the process of making a mandatory report to child welfare. Workers in day care and school are obligated to report to child welfare if they start having concerns about a child's or his/her family's wellbeing. Along with the changes in legislation preventive services and earlier help for families are being emphasized. As a result the amount of mandatory reports to child welfare from the services close to child such as day care and school have increased. Collaboration with the family is often part of the process of making the mandatory report. Despite of that there is still very little we know about it. The purpose of this study was to examine, how families react to the concern and discussion about a mandatory report introduced by day care or school workers and also what is the workers' professional role in the collaboration with parents during that process. The data of this study is part of the data of Lastensuojelun kehittämis- ja tutkimushanke (LaskeTut 2013–2015) about the process of mandatory reporting. The data consists of 11 focus group interviews carried out in maternity and child welfare clinic, early childhood education, school, and specialized medical care. The data was collected during the spring of 2015. For this study two interviews from the workers of early childhood education and two interviews from the workers of school were chosen for the analysis. In total 13 cases about the process of mandatory reporting were introduced by the interviewees. The data was analyzed with mean content analysis. The results of this study showed that discussing about concerns and mandatory report is an emotional situation for families. The reactions of families changed depending on the cases, but four styles of reactions were found that could be distinguished from each other. They did not rule each other out but one style was always emphasized in the situations. In some cases families reacted positively and were understanding about the concern and a proposition of mandatory report. In those cases the discussions about the concerns were constructive and the concern became shared regardless of which one the worker or the parent first mentioned it. Parents who had difficulties on accepting the concern or the proposition of a mandatory report introduced by worker showed negative reaction. Those parents also showed anger and aggressive behavior towards workers. In some cases the reaction of parents changed suddenly from negative to positive or vice versa. Different views between parents and workers, parents diminishing the concern or ending the collaboration showed denial of the concern. In those cases parents did not see the reason for mandatory report. Workers' professional responsibility on collaboration with family during the process of mandatory reporting emerged from workers' experiences in addition to families' reactions. These responsibilities create the basis for collaboration with family. Workers felt they have a responsibility of thinking the child's best in all situations even if it would complicate the collaboration with parents. Bringing up the concerns was also considered part of their professional obligation. In addition workers of school discussed and listened the child's version of the concern and the situation of the family. Workers also tried to support parents in their challenging life situations by giving advices. Collaboration with family during the process of mandatory reporting evoked strong feelings in workers. However workers were aware of their own position and responsibility of controlling their personal feelings and keeping their actions professional. Based on the results of this study collaboration between family and workers from day care and school during the process of mandatory reporting includes some challenges and requires personal and professional views to meet.