Hannele Forsberg is Professor of Social Work in the Department of Social Work Research at the University of Tampere, Finland. Her main research fields are family and childhood research and social work practices. Her ongoing research project concerns contested family practices and moral reasoning.Teppo Kröger is Academy Research Fellow, working at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Formerly a social worker and lecturer in social work, his main research interests focus on comparative research on social care, including child care, care for disabled people and care for older people.

• Introduction ~ Hannele Forsberg and Teppo Kröger; Nordic family policies: constructing contexts for social work with families ~ Guðný Björk Eydal and Teppo Kröger; A Nordic model in child welfare? ~ Helena Blomberg, Clary Corander, Christian Kroll, Anna Meeuwisse, Roberto Scaramuzzino and Hans Swärd; From welfare to illfare: public concern for Finnish childhood ~ Hannele Forsberg and Aino Ritala-Koskinen; Supporting families: the role of family work in child welfare ~ Marjo Kuronen and Pia Lahtinen; Family focused social work: professional challenges of the 21st century ~ Sigrún Júlíusdóttir; In the best interest of the child? Contradictions and tensions in social work ~ Reidun Follesø and Kate Mevik; Children in families receiving financial welfare assistance: visible or invisible? ~ Inger Marii Tronvoll; Listening to children's experiences of being participant witnesses to domestic violence ~ Margareta Hydén; Now you see them - now you don't: institutions in child protection policy ~ Tuija Eronen, Riitta Laakso and Tarja Pösö; Epilogue: on developing empowering child welfare systems and the welfare research needed to create them ~ Keith Pringle.

"This book makes an important contribution to our knowledge of children in the Nordic countries. It discusses how the Nordic Welfare State with its strong emphasis on equity, relates to the well-being of children." Irene Levin, Professor of Social Work, Oslo University College