Under the surface of the professional practice the challenge of anti-oppressive practice in forced migration

ABSTRACT

This article explores the dynamics and factors that influence social work practice with parents in forced migration. The lens of anti-oppressive practice supports the data analysis of the empirical research. Using the grounded theory, the article presents and discusses the conscious and unconscious manifestations of oppressive and anti-oppressive practice as they emerge from the experience of social workers (practice in action) and how they manifest at the systemic level (organisational practice). Finally, some implications are drawn for professional and organisational practice.

SINTESI

L’articolo esplora le dinamiche e i fattori che influenzano le pratiche di servizio sociale con i genitori in migrazione forzata. Usando la lente della pratica anti-oppressiva si presentano i risultati di una ricerca empirica. Applicando la Grounded Theory, l’articolo analizza e discute le manifestazioni consce e inconsce della pratica oppressiva e anti-oppressiva così come queste emergono dall’esperienza degli assistenti sociali (pratica in azione) e si presentano a livello sistemico (pratica organizzativa). Le conclusioni evidenziano alcune implicazioni per la pratica professionale e organizzativa.

KEYWORDS:

• Forced migration
• parenthood
• anti-oppressive practice
• grounded theory
• social work practice

PAROLE CHIAVE:

• migrazione forzata
• genitorialità
• pratica anti-oppressiva
• grounded theory
• servizio sociale

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Approval for this study was granted from the University’s Ethics Committee. Ethical issues addressed include informed consent, voluntary participation, and privacy and data protection. Accordingly, identifying details of the participants and the institution in which they operate are anonymised.

2 The Italian government has reception centres available to asylum seekers who lack sufficient financial support to meet their needs and those of their families. These centres are run by the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with Prefectures and specialised Third Sector organisations who directly manage the reception centres where people seeking international protection can live and access support and services.

3 Each interview is assigned a tag. Specifically: ‘Ts’ is Third Sector and ‘Ssw’ is Professional Social work. Each acronym is followed by the part of Italy (the North – N; the South – S; Central Italy – C) of origin of the professional interviewed. The Tag is then followed by a progressive number that indicates the number of interviews carried out in the same territory and type of entity.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Italian Ministry of University and Research.

Notes on contributors

Francesca Falcone

Francesca Falcone (PhD) is Research Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Science at the University of Calabria. She is a Lecturer in Methodology in social work for undergraduate and post graduate social work programme. Her research interests include action research and complex change in social care systems; social work for refugees and forced migrants; role supervision for leaders and managers in social services.