Questions about whether love can be offered in residential child care units,
whether combining child protection and safeguarding in social work with loving
care or care with love is possible, and whether children and young people feel
loved by someone who is paid to care for them, have raised long-standing
issues. Social pedagogy puts such questions at the core of its philosophy and
practice, and has been a fundamental part of care in Denmark for many years.
Drawing on a Danish survey of 1,400 children in out-of-home care, this paper
analyses the subjective feeling of love amongst children living in out-of-home
care. The main moderating factors for feeling loved are the feeling of security
and the feeling of social support, the tangible counterpart of Honneth’s concept
of recognition.
whether combining child protection and safeguarding in social work with loving
care or care with love is possible, and whether children and young people feel
loved by someone who is paid to care for them, have raised long-standing
issues. Social pedagogy puts such questions at the core of its philosophy and
practice, and has been a fundamental part of care in Denmark for many years.
Drawing on a Danish survey of 1,400 children in out-of-home care, this paper
analyses the subjective feeling of love amongst children living in out-of-home
care. The main moderating factors for feeling loved are the feeling of security
and the feeling of social support, the tangible counterpart of Honneth’s concept
of recognition.
Authors
- Mette LaustenSigne Frederiksen
About this publication
Published in
International Journal of Social Pedagogy
