From caregiver to risk manager: Professionals assessing parents in Danish childcare institutions

Abstract

This article explores assessments and collaborative practices between Danish parents and professionals when young children enter nursery care. Based on practice research in Danish childcare institutions, the article focuses on how early childhood education policy is connected to early assessment, based on an understanding of children as vulnerable and in need of stimulation by adults in order to develop properly. In this policy environment, parents act not only as primary caregivers for their children but also as risk managers in collaboration with the professional staff. The article describes how parents’ acts of care can sometimes be interpreted by professionals as an unwillingness to collaborate, thus transforming evaluation of children’s adjustment to the day-care setting into assessments of parents’ skills. This objectification of the parents, risks disrupting collaboration and the child’s chain of care.