Editorial

Abstract

In this third issue of 2023, we are glad to offer you 14 read-worthy contributions. The first article presents outcomes for persons who have been supported by child welfare services in Norway related to upper secondary school, employment, financial assistance and health-related benefits. This study provides a more nuanced account of upper secondary education, employment, health-related benefits and financial assistance than previous studies have done. The second article traces the development of social work in Israel’s Arab society at the turn of the millennium (1996–2006) based on semi-structured interviews with Arab social workers who worked in the profession at the time. They discovered that there were two parallel social work paradigms at the time – one for the country’s Jewish citizens and the second, far poorer, for her Arab citizens – that evolved against the backdrop of the ongoing Israeli-Arab conflict and the definition of Israel as a Jewish state. The third contribution refers to emotional nurturance as a fundamental feature of all forms of professional caring. Drawing on feminist care theory, Hochchild’s emotional labour theory and Bourdieusian social reproduction theory, as well as diverse empirical studies, this paper identifies how emotion is marginalised and misrecognised and calls for the reappraisal of emotion in professional care work in ways that appreciate tensions, contradictions and dilemmas in practice. Our fourth paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the depoliticisation of social work. The authors explore intergenerational dialogues as a non-formal approach to this debate and argue that social welfare organisations should engage in creating free space for discussions about the political nature of the profession. According to the authors, intergenerational dialogues can be seen as learning opportunities without a fixed educational agenda. The fifth paper describes three different caregiver profiles and analysed them in relation to their panorama of care, i.e. the extent to which caring is shared with other formal and informal co-carers. They conclude that in developing relevant care support, it is important to acknowledge that caregivers are not a homogenous group. In the sixth paper, the nature of child-researcher relationships and researchers’ positions are examined to further understand how to account for the impact of contexts on meaning making in research with children. According to the authors, further reflexivity in social-work research with children is called for, so that understanding of the possible dimensions of reflexivity are extended. The seventh paper reports on a study of a specialist social work service provided by local government agencies in Ireland. It draws on qualitative findings taken from interviews with social workers and explains why social workers faced challenges in upholding their professional values, regulatory obligations and continuous professional development. The authors conclude by arguing for a more clearly defined, human-rights-based social work role. The next and eighth paper of this issue discusses how technology is used in the lives of women who are victims of domestic violence. The analysis shows that the accessibility of digital media enables the abuser to be constantly present in the woman’s life, even after she has left him. However, the same technology is also important to the women, enabling them to manage victimisation, monitor the perpetrators, store evidence, obtain information, gain support and keep in touch with family and friends. In our ninth paper, the authors argue that we have gone from the more conventional form of face-to-face relationships to the more innovative methods making us talk about e-welfare with the use of digital technology. This article aims to shed light on these changes which are taking place by highlighting the operational and ethical implications of digitalisation to find a new