No drum to beat, no can to carry : the alienation and loss of religious ideation on the frontline of children's welfare service provision : the possibility for moral proportion in the new culture

![CDATA[When UWS PhD candidate Ann Jensen titled her thesis Carrying the Can, she was using a metaphor that describes taking responsibility for unpleasant tasks. In trying to understand driving values for frontline children’s welfare work, her question asked what meanings women attached to their low-paid work, and what it meant in terms of the known service delivery focus of the sector, and to their agency’s agendas. One of her presumptions was that some women, perhaps in faith-based organisations, had a sense of “vocation” about care work. This idea was quickly shattered by the research process. Although the participants were concerned with values, the research began to reveal the absence of religious ideation and the presence of religious alienation and a desire for moral community more closely aligned to the demands of the work. She conceptualised that workers were seeking moral proportion as a key value for moral community.]]