In a micro-analysis of two cases from the Netherlands, Instant Messaging conversations between birth parents and professional foster parents were studied. The study reveals there are three types of activity in Instant Messaging: aligning dialogues, exhchange of information, and relationship building. …

Het onderzoek ‘Professioneel Ouderschap in Gezinshuizen’ is een tweejarig project dat mede mogelijk gemaakt werd door een subsidieregeling van Stichting Innovatie Alliantie en uitgevoerd door een consortium bestaande uit de Christelijke Hogeschool Ede, Gezinshuis.com en Joozt LSG-Rentray. Als experts …

Social workers nowadays are confronted with recurrent issues about religion and spirituality when in contact with diverse client groups. This was also the case in the beginning of the profession around 1900, in Europe as well as in the US. This study analyses the work of a Dutch pioneer in social work, …

De manier waarop cliënten praten over hun situatie aan het begin en aan het eind van een begeleidingstraject zegt veel over de verandering die plaats heeft gevonden tijdens dat traject. Daar is nu onderzoek naar gedaan

This article takes a close look at the openings of 12 different Dutch adoption assessment sessions. In the first of a series of 4 adoption assessment sessions, social workers perform different actions that are analyzed in detail. The overall focus is on how contact and relationships are established in …

The objective of this study is to contribute towards understanding how welfare and justice discourses become apparent in institutional conversations where social workers involved in child protection have dual professional identities: that of helper and of gatekeeper. In this article we analyse a specific …

In this study we examine how suitability for adoptive parenthood is assessed and displayed in interactions between social workers and prospective adoptive parents. In particular, we have analyzed relationship questions that are put to couples with and without an observation from the social worker. The answers …

Prospective adoptive parents who take part in a Dutch adoption assessment procedure are asked to write down their life stories. In this article we examine how information from the life stories is deleted, selected and transformed into a topic to talk about in an assessment interview and/or to write about …