Should we take their children? Caseworkers’ negotiations of ‘good enough’ care for children living with high-conflict parents

Abstract

Few studies have explored caseworkers’ perspectives on children’s safety and emotional wellbeing in high-conflict families. Based on focus group and individual interviews with 31 Norwegian child protection services staff, this research concentrated on caseworkers’ assessments when they worry about the intensity of interparental conflicts and their ability to identify the right thresholds for interventions. While the participants agree that excessive conflict is a significant risk factor for children, the findings demonstrate that caseworkers have difficulty assessing the gravity of conflict and potential harmful effects on children, especially when the conflicts are the main cause for concern about the children’s wellbeing. This challenge is related to these professionals’ trouble with understanding how much parents’ behaviours towards each other are normal post-marital conflict and how disputes can affect parenting abilities. The results also show that caseworkers, despite long-lasting concerns, tend not to make care order applications to social welfare boards even if this step is considered. The conclusions include that parents’ higher socio-economic status denotes resilience, overshadowing intense conflict as a risk factor for children’s wellbeing. This perspective combines with the difficult task of deciding what constitutes emotional neglect versus poor parenting abilities to influence caseworkers’ discretionary reasoning and professional convictions.