Public- and Private-Sector Out-of-Home Care in Denmark.

The article focuses on out-of-home care in Denmark. During the last generation, especially, there has been a growing tendency for Danes to rely on the public service system in instances of trouble and crisis instead of turning to their informal social networks of relatives, friends, and neighbors. As a result, their comprehensive child-welfare system has been strained. Until very recently, accelerating numbers of Danish children and youths were being placed outside of their own homes for extended periods of time. In 1987, 1.2 percent of the total population of minors were in foster family care and various forms of group care-with some 40 percent coming from seriously troubled families. Overloading of the system, along with depressed budgets, has brought about substantial reductions in the number of placements but has failed to stimulate additional interest in the identification of alternative forms of placements and funding. This was especially true for those alternatives in the private sector.