The public discourse on the child and adult protection services (KESB): How did an institutional reform turn into a moral controversy and how does it affect policy practice?

Bettina Stauffer is writing her dissertation as part of the National Research Programme 76, " Welfare and Coercion" (www.nfp76.ch). The project is being implemented in collaboration with Johanna Künzler, also a doctoral student at KPM, and is being supervised by Prof. Dr. Fritz Sager.

Background

In Switzerland, the KESB authorities decide about welfare service delivery as well as about the taking of coercive measures. The authorities were created in 2013, following a change to the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB) adopted by the Swiss Parliament. Whereas most of the French-speaking cantons were able to continue working within the existing system, the changes to the Civil Code led to organizational changes in the German-speaking cantons and the Ticino.

Our analysis will begin in the 1990s, when the first meetings on the reform of the guardianship system, as child and adult protection services were referred to back then, took place. We will then track the reform on the national level as well as its implementation on the cantonal level at the turn of the millennium. This will be followed by an analysis of the debate in the media and its implications for today.

Shortly after its formation, as early as 2015, the KESB were attacked because of a case of infanticide in Flaach (Zurich). Citizens’ initiatives were formed against the KESB and for a certain period of time, KESB employees even had to be placed under police protection. This moral-political controversy has persisted until today, despite contrary evidence on the work of the KESB and positive reports of external experts.

The research project is interested in the contrast between public and expert opinion, its origin and its consequences.

Research questions

The aim of the project is to answer the following questions:

• How did the KESB reform come about?
• How did the moral-political controversy surrounding the KESB arise? Are there any differences between the German- and the French-speaking parts of Switzerland?
• What are the consequences of this controversy for the KESB’s daily work?

Methodological approach

The dissertation is based on a broad range of methods in order to provide differentiated answers to the research questions. Document analyses of expert minutes are used as well as semi-structured interviews with representatives from science and practice and participatory observation of the implementation by the authorities. At the core of the project is a comprehensive media database, which was jointly developed by Bettina Stauffer and Johanna Künzler. It contains the German- and French-language debates on child and adult protection law between 2013 and 2016, which are analysed using the Narrative Policy Framework.

Expected results

Initial studies show that the reform hardly attracted any public interest during its development and was designed primarily under the aegis of experts. The different effects of the national law amendment on the language parts of the country were reflected in the respective discourses. While in French-speaking Switzerland there was hardly any interest in the reform and the authorities still largely implement the law away from public attention, the change in the German-speaking parts of the country provoked major discussions on the adequate level of implementation of child and adult protection law and on the participation of the municipalities in its implementation. The infanticide in Flaach fundamentally called into question state intervention in families in German-speaking Switzerland and caused damage to the reputation of the KESB, which the authorities still perceive in their daily practice today. 

The dissertation project is of importance for various social circles. In times of increased media attention, the authorities need to know how to deal with negative media coverage. Moreover, Swiss politicians and the Swiss public will gain greater insight into a topic that received much media coverage and is still occasionally enters the focus of public attention today. Political sciences will gain a long-term perspective on a political process in Switzerland as well as insight into the dynamics of public debates and their impact.

These dissertations are written by Bettina Stauffer and Johanna Kuenzler with supervision by Fritz Sager.