Collaboration of Parents and Care Professionals in Cases of Children Placed in Residential Care Homes - Parental Perspective

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi

Residential child care education and support outside the family is shifting worldwide from a child-only focus toward a child-and-family centred approach, making collaboration quality a central concern. Slovenian studies highlight challenges in maintaining partnership with parents grounded in trust and regular contact. This qualitative research gathered accounts from 32 participants across residential care homes in Slovenia to identify parents’ experiences and needs that can improve collaboration with care professionals, emphasizing communication, dialogue, information, inclusion, and acceptance as core team members.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background and rationale for collaboration

Family reactions to residential placement

Building partnership through contact and structures

Obstacles in working with parents

Collaboration of Parents and Care Professionalsin Cases of Children Placed in Residential Care Homes – Parental Perspective By Jana Rapuš Pavel􀀍 The paradigm of residential child care, providing education and care for children outside the family is changing worldwide. The emphasis is shifting from a narrow child-focused approach to a more child-and-family centred one, foregrounding the quality of collaboration between parents and everyone involved in the child’s care. Several Slovenian studies draw attention to the difficulties of maintaining a collaborative partnership with parents that is based on trust and contact. We introduce the findings of a qualitative research study that included 32 individuals with children in different residential care homes throughout Slovenia. The aim of the study was to analyze the experiences and needs of the parents that could contribute to abetter collaboration with the care professionals. The findings show that the parents emphasized the following as important for good collaboration: communication and dialogue, being informed, included and accepted as an important part of the team. Keywords: collaboration, parents, residential child care, Slovenia, youth care professionals Introduction Any family can have difficulties when approaching collaboration with an institution where the child will reside, since the connotation of residential care is one of parental failure and potential power of the care professionals (Sinclair & Gibbs, 1998, in Kendrick, 2008) . This is why the attitude and approach of care professionals, namely social workers and youth care professionals 1, is so important. Collaboration with the family is important throughout the child’s stay in care outside the family in order to enable the child to have days outside the residential home (Geurts, Boddy, Noom, & Knorth, 2012) . The placement of a child in a form of care outside the family affects the whole family. For parents it generally means pain and sorrow, and that they have to cope with their feelings of separation and loss on their own (Buchbinder & Barequet-Moshe, 2011; Milligan & Stevens, 2006; Rapuš Pavel & Kobolt, 2008) . Haagenstad (1992, in Buchbinder & Barequet-Moshe, 2011) list 4 forms of family reactions to the removal of a child from home. The normal reaction of the parents and siblings is pain; there are also the feelings of 􀀍Assistant Professor, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Slovenia. 1 We use "youth care professional" as a translation of the Slovenian term "vzgojitelj", meaning the professional staff members who work directly with children and youths in residential care institutions in Slovenia. [https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.3-1-3](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.3-1-3) doi=10.30958/aje.3-1-3 loss, sadness, emptiness, isolation, anger, anxiety, restlessness, worry and fear. In addition, the feelings of guilt and responsibility for the problem that led to the child’s placement can also occur. The second reaction is the opinion of the parents that the child’s placement in an educational institution is beneficial. The parents feel hopeful that the placement in care outside the family will result in the desired change in the child’s behaviour. In the third case, it’s the siblings who experience loss. In the fourth case, the placement of a child in care outside the family has a positive impact on the family. The parents report reduced tensions at home, fewer conflicts within the family and positive changes in parental roles. In the new environment and by establishing new relationships the child has the potential for a change. But the child’s parents also urgently need help and support. Keeping in contact is a prerequisite for establishing a sound partnership between the parents and care professionals. This can only be established with collaboration. Gradišar (2013) refers to various forms of collaboration for establishing and maintaining a relationship with the family. These includ

FAQs

What does the study focus on regarding residential child care collaboration?

It examines parents’ experiences and needs that can contribute to better collaboration with care professionals when children are placed in residential care homes.

Why is collaboration between care professionals and parents considered difficult?

Challenges arise from maintaining a partnership based on trust and contact, and from obstacles care professionals face when working with different parental groups.

What elements do parents emphasize as important for good collaboration?

Parents highlight communication and dialogue, being informed, and being included and accepted as an important part of the team.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi