Welcome to the first issue of the twenty-sixth volume of JFSW. Included in this issue are three articles addressing critical issues facing vulnerable children and their families, and which can inform the work of the professionals who serve them, including practice grounded areas such as foster care, confidentiality in serving children and youth, and the use of online resources for parents.
The first article, titled The helping relationship in the foster care context: Perspectives from parent-caseworker dyads authored by Stacy Dunkerley, Ashley Palmer, Becci A. Akin, and Jody Brock. This article reports on qualitative research about the relationship between birth parents and caseworkers informed by interviews with parent-caseworker pairs. Findings include parents seeing the relationship differently than caseworkers, for example parents saw caseworkers as a source of hope for reunification while caseworkers felt their role in participation was central. Finally, both parents and caseworkers identified agency and system factors in parent participation in the helping relationship.
The second article, authored by Michal Segal, is titled The conflict between maintaining confidentiality in social work and protecting a minor from harm. In this article the author applies a case study to illustrate a social worker’s dual obligation to maintain a vulnerable child’s confidentiality, concerns about a father who has potential to harm the child, and the tensions between the law, the court system, and the social worker. The author discusses the legal framework and recent a recent ruling in terms of the duty of a social worker in terms of confidentiality in Israel. The author offers policy changes that could help social workers worldwide make decisions related to the duty of confidentiality for children and youth.
The third article is authored by Terese Glatz, Jenny Alsarve, Kristian Daneback, and Emma Sorbring and is titled An examination of parents’ online activities and links to demographic characteristics among parents in Sweden. This survey study of 401 parents of children aged birth to 5 years of age living in Sweden explored how parents used the internet to inform and support their parenting. Their findings showed that parents went online frequently but differences in the activities parents were involved in. Mothers and parents of younger children sought information about parenting and mothers relied more on online information in their parenting role than did fathers. However, mothers reported struggling to interpret the information they found. Parents with higher education read parenting blogs whereas parents with lower education posted photos and information. The results could be used to develop online support resources for parents.
Together these three articles offer innovative and unique contributions to the evolution of social work practice from international perspectives, which inform social work services to struggling families by the professionals who serve them.