Care in Social Work with Children and Families

Maria Appel Nissen (b. 1971) is PhD in Sociology and Professor of Social Work at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University. She has over 20 years of experience in research on social work with children and families with a particular interest in knowledge, power, conflicts and the possibility of a holistic view on social problems and human beings. Before that she was an independent consultant conducting evaluations of social work with vulnerable children, young people and families (1997–2001). She is the head of the research group Shaping Concepts, Practices, and Advances in Social Work (SCOPAS) and of the Bachelor of Social Work at Aalborg University, and has many years of experience in teaching and supervising social workers at all levels. Mie Engen (b. 1975) is PhD in Sociology and Social Work and Associate Professor of Social Work at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University. She works with both qualitative and quantitative methods, is specialised in ethnographic field studies and particularly interested in care in professional social work, social work practices with vulnerable children and families and their connections with social policy and broader societal developments. She is head of the Master's in Vulnerable Children and Young People, Professional Management (adult/continuing higher education) at Aalborg University, coordinator of the Bachelor of Social Work and has many years of experience in teaching social workers. Andreas Møller Jørgensen (b. 1981) is PhD in Arctic Studies – Culture, Language and Society, Department of Social Sciences, Ilisimatusarfik, Nuuk, Greenland, and Associate Professor of Social Work at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Aalborg University. He is particularly interested in technologies and power in professional social work, and in how core values and concepts of care, welfare and views of socially marginalised people change over time. He is coordinator and teacher at the Master's programme in Social Work and a teacher at the Bachelor of Social Work and Sociology programme at Aalborg University.

• 0.Preface - Exploring care in social work with families. 1.Care in social work with families in advanced capitalist welfare states. 2.A theory of care for social work with families. 3.Care as a relational practice: the possibility of solidary authority. 4.Emotional practices and the economy of care and sympathy. 5.Systemic temporal constructions and care. 6.Spaces of care: Mediating practices, relationships and knowledge. 7.A framework for exploring and developing the power of care in social work.