Child-centric or family focused? A study of child welfare workers' perceptions of ethnic minority children in England and Norway

This paper analyses child welfare workers' perceptions of ethnic minority children in England and Norway based on in-depth interviews with 52 child welfare workers in 2008. We employ a child-centric theoretical framework to explore up to what extent workers focus on minority children in their perceptions. We found that about half of our study participants (n= 27) did so, and many more in Norway than England. They perceived many risks and problems for minority children related to their ethnicity, including children's biculturalism and language skills, parenting methods, unequal treatment and racism, lack of social inclusion, and problems in school. Norwegian workers displayed a broad needs perception and embraced a change-orientated perspective and held parents accountable for their children's educational success and social inclusion. English workers had a narrower approach, focusing on protecting children. We discuss how the cross-country differences may be related to different welfare state and child welfare paradigms.