Do you love me? An empirical analysis of the feeling of being loved among children in out-of-home care in Denmark

Questions about whether love can be offered in residential child care units and whether it is possible to combine child protection and safeguarding in social work with loving care or care with love have raised long-standing... [ view full abstract ]

Questions about whether love can be offered in residential child care units and whether it is possible to combine child protection and safeguarding in social work with loving care or care with love have raised long-standing issues. Is it possible for children and young people to feel recognized and loved by someone who is paid to care for them? 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. This paper draws on a Danish survey of 1,400 children in out-of-home care, and analyses whether there is a difference in the subjective feeling of being loved in children living in foster care, ordinary residential care, and socio-pedagogical homes. Our findings show that the majority of children and young people in Danish out-of-home care always feel loved by their caregivers. In terms of children's feeling of love the main moderating factors are the feeling of security and social support, the tangible counterparts of Honneth's concept of recognition.
Children’s emotional development and their ability to make social relations are strongly linked to the recognition, loving care, and social support they receive; which again are keystone elements of Danish Social pedagogy.

Keywords:
Child and youth care, social pedagogy, socio-pedagogical homes, caring relationship, recognition, social support