Reason for concern? Reflections on how kindergarten staff report on child concern

Abstract

This study is an attempt at better understanding kindergarten staff's thoughts and feelings about reporting borderline cases to the child welfare authorities (Barnevernet, hereafter called CWA). It also covers staff's confrontations with parents, about problems concerning their children. Eight kindergarten employees were interviewed using a semistructured guide. In analysing the transcripts, a hermeneutical-phenomenological approach was used. Several considerations were involved in the decision of whether to report a case or not. Despite the fact that kindergarten employees found it important to contact parents early, some factors contributed to making this more difficult. Most of the interviewed were afraid that confrontation might harm cooperation with parents, or that they could be wrong about their suspicions. Some felt uncertain about how to interpret emotional signals from the children. Sometimes, it seemed easier to wait and see, or they sought other explanations. Furthermore, most of the interviewed were dissatisfied with the CWA, and wanted a closer cooperation. As a result, interview subjects felt they needed a high level of certainty before reporting. This might be a possible explanation for the low level of reports regarding concern the CWA receive from kindergartens.

Intensjonen med denne studien var å utforske hvordan barnehageansatte opplever prosessen rundt det å sende bekymringsmeldinger til barnevernet i gråsonesaker. Hvordan de i denne sammenhengen opplever det å ta kontakt med foreldrene, var også et sentralt tema. Åtte barnehageansatte ble intervjuet, og det ble brukt en kvalitativ og semistrukturert metode. En hermeneutisk-fenomenologisk tilnærming ble brukt i analyseprosessen. Flere faktorer bidro til at det ble vanskelig å kontakte foreldrene og sende bekymringsmeldinger. De fleste fryktet at konfrontasjon kunne skade samarbeidet med foreldrene, eller at mistanken skulle vise seg å være feilaktig. Noen var usikre på hvordan de skulle tolke signaler hos barna. Flere var misfornøyde med den jobben barnevernet gjorde, og de ønsket et nærmere samarbeid. Dette førte til at de ansatte følte behov for å være svært sikre i sin sak før de meldte fra.