The Differences of the Child Welfare Policy in the United States to Those in Finland and Germany

The underscoring concept to social work practice the pursuit towards a socially just society. Social workers serve the purpose of enriching society by enhancing social justice and eliminating social oppression. Mandates and mission statements support these objectives within social service agencies both in for profit and nonprofit sectors. One thing that every social service agency has in common is the overarching ideology that shapes the society they serve and more specifically, ideology influences the way an agency can conduct its services. Philosophy in most cases only goes as far as policy allows it too. This paper will examine the similarities and differences from western child welfare policy in the United States (US) and look outwards at international trends of practice and policy in Finland and Germany. In order to develop effective policy that meets society’s needs, it’s important to analysis other countries child welfare policies and gain an understanding of what is making a difference in child welfare practice around the world.
The child welfare system in United States uses a dominant colonial approach to how the child welfare system is applied. They are based on the foundations of patriarchal ideology. When approaching child welfare the attention is mostly given to the families and individual blame occurs, this may reflect the way the systems are designed, operating from a liberal ideology. Furthermore, in the process of child protection family service systems are exposed to the use of formal coercion and contested court involvements, although this is considered a last resort and avoided, if possible. Typically, after a child maltreatment report, the allegation is investigated and assessed for degree of state interven...

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...ly five. Interestingly enough in Germany parents demanding children to be removed has doubled. Overall, we see three diverse countries but even though many differences are represented it appears their work is similar in nature and there are pros and cons about all three countries. Funding into family policy is similar between continental Europe and Social Democrats spending twice as much as liberal Anglo- American countries. It appears Finland was the most effective country stating child welfare was hardly a concern but as the world has developed it appears all three countries values have been absorbed by the idea of capitalism. Above all it’s evident that child protection is hard work no matter where the practice takes place and it’s valuable to look at other countries practices because it can provide insight into what approaches are effective in helping families.