HVEM HAR ANSVARET? En immigrantfamilies møde med den danske institutionsverden

Resumé

The article presents an experience near

analysis of events, which took place in

connection with an immigrant child’s start

in a Danish pre-school. More specifically

it deals with the inter-subjective meetings

between the mother of the child and preschool

staff. The analysis raises questions

regarding Danish cultural assumptions

about the appropriate relation between

children and responsibility as well as the

inviolability of the nuclear family.The

Danish cultural conception of the integrity

of the individual and family means that

pre-school staff generally tries to solve

problems themselves or call on professional

assistance. Due to fear of mixing

distinct life worlds, the staff will not

contact members of a family network or

other people with whom a parent shares

mother tongue in order to solve a problem.

This principle does indeed safeguard

against undesirable interference, but it

simultaneously cuts off relations, which

in certain situations might have helped

reaching a meaningful contact.