A Case Study in International Cooperation

Abstract

Nancy Hazel was formerly senior research fellow at the University of Kent and organiser of the Kent Family Placement Project and is now, since retiring, consultant to the Southwark Catholic Children's Society homefinding unit at Gravesend (which prepares children for family placement) and Vice-Chairman of the Canterbury Unattached Youth Project, a new voluntary organisation providing a range of community-based services. Pia Merete Korshin studied family therapy for a year in the USA and then trained at the Danish Social High School as a 'social adviser' (social worker). Since 1974 she has been working with drug-addicts, and, since 1976, she has especially been working with the mother/child relationship. Carsten Schmedes has been attached to the Day and Overnight Centre since 1971, working with drug addicts. Since 1976 he has been working with single mothers with children, together with Pia Merete Korshin. During the last year in the family project he has acted as foster care consultant. Grete Rasmussen worked as secretary in the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Social Welfare, and, since 1963, as secretary to the clinical director of the Copenhagen Youth clinic. SUMMARY This article is in two parts. The first part describes how ideas and concepts can cross national and linguistic frontiers and how theories of social work practice may be found suitable for application in cultures which are different from the original setting. The ideas are likely to grow and develop during their travels and may return to their original source as the inspiration for further innovation. The Kent Project is used as a case example in the first part and in the second part of the article a new Danish project is described which is based on the Kent theories but may perhaps give workers in the UK ideas for further developments.