Social workers understanding of extended family’s position in child welfare in Lithuania, Chile and Norway

Internationally, negotiations between child welfare and protection services and families are a contested area. This comparative study from Chile, Lithuania and Norway uses a vignette and focus groups to explore how child protection workers in various contexts understand families, and how they involve extended families in child protection work. The analysis reveals a fluid and varied understanding of the family and of family practices. The results also show variations across contexts in how they involved extended family members. Norwegian workers tend to lean on a rather risk-oriented understanding of families and their impact on children, primarily without involving the extended family. On the other hand, in general Chilean, and to some extent Lithuanian workers, put more of an emphasis on possible resources and in problem-solving within families, relying more on the involvement of-, and support from, the extended families. Hence, extended families` rights and duties regarding the children vary among countries