SEEKING ASSYLUM IN SWEDEN:
A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON SOCIAL
WORKERS EXPERIENCE, CONFIDENCE AND
COMPETENCE WITH UNACCOMPANIED
MINORS.
THESIS PRESENTED TO MALMÖ UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN, FACULTY OF HEALTH AND SOCIETY
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Social Work
ABSTRACT
Sweden has over the years welcomed thousands of refugees, more so in the years between 2014 to 2017 when huge numbers of refugees and asylum seekers entered Europe. Among them, thousands of unaccompanied minors, mostly from countries such as: Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Eritrea and Somalia. Fleeing wars, persecution, poverty among other problems, they have witnessed adversities at tender age both in their home countries and on their way to their destination, causing them various mental health problems. The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) law states that municipalities are required to provide the unaccompanied minors their needs. At the municipality’s temporary housings, the minors are paired with social workers, who take over their case, provide them necessary help and care their general wellbeing. Providing them the necessary help, grasping and understanding their problems and needs can be very challenging for any, especially social workers who are tasked to help and integrate them.
Social workers come across challenging issues and so often the minors refuse to cooperate due to issues such as trust. This research, therefore, will implore and interview social workers challenges, competence and confidence in working with the unaccompanied minors. Due to the nature of the topic of study, exploratory research design will be used to collect the qualitative data by interviewing the social workers.
In this essay I explore what challenges, competence and confidence social
workers experience in their meeting with the unaccompanied minors. My material shows, that Social workers come across challenging issues such as creating trust. The findings further show lack of cultural adaption and cultural understanding resulting from cultural competence. This is due to the diverse ethnic and cultural differences among unaccompanied minors.
Due to the nature of the topic of study, exploratory research design will be used to collect the qualitative data by interviewing the social workers. The study will also use cultural humility and cultural competence theory to operationalise for various reasons outlined in the study.
(Key Words: Asylum, Competence, Migration, Social work, Unaccompanied-minors).
Abstrakt
Sverige har genom åren välkomnat tusentals flyktingar, mer så under åren mellan 2014 och 2017 då ett stort antal flyktingar och asylsökande kom in i Europa. Bland dem tusentals ensamkommande barn, mestadels från länder som Afghanistan, Iran, Syrien, Eritrea och Somalia. På flykt från krig, förföljelse, fattigdom bland andra problem har de bevittnat motgångar i tidiga ålder både i sina hemländer och på väg till sin destination, vilket orsakat dem olika psykiska problem.
I Socialstyrelsens lag (Socialstyrelsen) anges att kommunerna är skyldiga att tillhandahålla ensamkommande minderåriga deras behov. På kommunens
tillfälliga bostäder paras minderåriga med socialarbetare som tar över sitt fall, ger dem nödvändig hjälp och tar hand om deras allmänna välbefinnande. Att ge dem nödvändig hjälp, förstå deras problem och behov kan vara mycket utmanande för alla, särskilt socialarbetare som har till uppgift att hjälpa och integrera dem.
Socialarbetare stöter på utmanande frågor och så ofta vägrar minderåriga att samarbeta med de på grund av frågor som rör tillit. Denna forskning kommer därför att intervjua socialarbetares utmaningar, kompetens och förtroende för att arbeta med ensamkommande minderåriga. I denna studie kommer explorativ forskningsdesign att använda för att samla in kvalitativa data genom att intervjua socialarbetare.
I denna uppsats undersöker jag vilka utmaningar, kompetens och förtroende socialarbetare upplever i sitt möte med ensamkommande barn.
Mitt material visar att socialarbetare stöter på utmanande frågor som att skapa förtroende. Resultaten visar vidare brist på kulturell anpassning och kulturell förståelse till följd av kulturell kompetens. Detta beror på de olika etniska och kulturella skillnaderna bland ensamkommande minderåriga.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my family and friends’ encouragement at a difficult period of 2020 and for standing up with me. It has indeed been a welcome support. I would like to acknowledge the help and guidance I received from my supervisor Marcus Herz who has dedicated valuable time to offer his expertise and tips on a subject he has researched on so many times.
Special thanks to the wonderful social workers who participated and shared their working experience with smile and dedication. Their participation and willingness to take part in this study has been very helpful.
Gureh
Malmö University January 2020.
Innehållsförteckning
THESIS PRESENTED TO MALMÖ UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN, ... 0
FACULTY OF HEALTH AND SOCIETY ... 0
ABSTRACT ... 2
Acknowledgement ... 4
1. Introduction ... 0
Relevance of the research ... 1
2. Background ... 2
Criticism of social work ... 8
Relevance of theory ... 12 5. Methods ... 13 Research design ... 14 Sample universe ... 15 Data sampling ... 15 Data analysis ... 16 6. Results... 19 Findings implications ... 19 Confidence ... 20 Competence ... 21 Mental health ... 23
Limitations and recommendations ... 25
7. Conclusion ... 26
1. Introduction
The refugee and migration crisis in the years between 2014-2017 had huge impact on the socio-political affairs of Europe. Migrants, many of them fleeing different adversities such as conflicts, wars, poverty among other made their way to Europe to seek asylum. (Wadensjö & Çelikaksoy: 2016:9)
Sweden was among the countries that opened its doors to those fleeing war and persecution. A significant number of unaccompanied minors were among the asylum seekers. While unaccompanied minors entering Sweden is not a new phenomenon, the numbers experienced in 2015 was significant. For instance, in the year 2000, only 350 unaccompanied minors entered Sweden to seek asylum compared 35 369 in 2015, when the migration was at the tipping point in the country and Europe as a whole (Migrationsverket rapport 2018). In the following years, Sweden took more drastic measures including border checks and closures, which lowered the new entries.
The unaccompanied minors are mainly from conflict and war-ridden countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Eritrea, Somalia (Migrationsverket:2018). This makes them far from a homogenic group due to each one’s societal background relating to gender functionality, beliefs, age (Ibid).
Majority of the unaccompanied minors are also boys, 80 percent in 2015, according to Migrationsverket, (Migrationsverket:2018).
The social services and legal systems in Sweden are responsible for the handling and care of young people who are involved in crime and delinquency (Rostami etl, 22020). Hence, the unaccompanied minors are considered to be an extremely vulnerable group due to the traumatic experiences they went through both in their countries and their journeys to new countries (Ibid). Social workers in municipal services play an important role in providing services to the unaccompanied minors (Ibid).
In this essay I will therefore explore social workers experience and what competence that is needed when meeting and providing services to the unaccompanied minors.
1.1 Research aim and question
In helping both the documented and undocumented-unaccompanied minors, social workers role is to be on the frontlines to help these and many other vulnerable groups to point out, understand, provide and ensure their basic needs are met.
The aim of this qualitative research is to study what competence social workers experience they need when working with the unaccompanied minors. The essay explores if social workers feel confident and competent enough when helping unaccompanied minors and what they feel is needed in order for them to do better social work. Of specific relevance is what form of cultural competence that social workers think is needed in order to meet the necessities of unaccompanied youth. But with the challenges that come up, do social workers feel confident and competent enough when helping unaccompanied minors?
Relevance of the research
Research on social workers competence and confidence in cultural understanding and working with unaccompanied minors is vital owing to the increased number of differences in cultural differences in a multicultural society. While there is extensive research in relation to unoccupied youth (Herz & Lalander, 2019, Backlund, 2014, Ekström 2019 and Brunnberg etl. 2011)), there is still need for research on the relationship between social work and cultural competence. There is need for a similar research due to the absence of multicultural and evidence-based theory by social workers. Therefore, a better understanding and
incorporation of evidence-based and multicultural intervention is of importance to both social workers and unaccompanied minors.
Disposition
This research will be divided into various section. I will begin with the background section where I will discuss the number of the migrant
unaccompanied minors over years as well as where they come from mostly. I will also discuss the responsibilities of social workers and where they come into contact with the minors as well as the minors rights to welfare, family reunion and right to education.
The background section will be followed by the literature review section where I will discuss on previous research on unaccompanied minors and social workers working relationships.
The theory section will discuss in detail why I chose cultural humility and confidence and their suitability to this study. Thereafter, I will present the
qualitative method that I used in gathering interview data. The result section will follow. This will be followed by a brief conclusion section of the research.
2.
Background
Migration in Sweden has been a long running issue over the decades but in recent years between 2013 and onwards, huge number of people have arrived in Sweden. Among the asylum seekers who arrived in Sweden were unaccompanied minors. According to the Swedish law (LMA: 1), unaccompanied minor are defined as children under the age of 18 years that came to Sweden without any parent or relative or any other person that can be seen to take parental role of them
(Backlund, etl. 2014). Currently, majority of the unaccompanied minors, mostly boys, come from mostly Afghanistan while majority of the girls come from Eritrea, Somalia and Syria (Backlund, etl, 2014).
There has been a steady increase of refugee and migrants’ arrivals in Sweden. To put the numbers and genders of the unaccompanied minors into perspective, in 2012, 3 578 unaccompanied minors sought asylum and 8 per cent of them were girls (Socialstyrelsen, 2020). But the number increased at the height of the ‘migration crisis’ where 35 369 unaccompanied minors sought asylum, almost tenfold the numbers in 2012, with 8 per cent of them being girls
(Socialstyrelsen:2020:11). After the imposition of border closures in Sweden, there was a reduction in unaccompanied minors seeking asylum with 1 336 (in 2017) and 902 (in 2019), with girls accounting for 22 and 28 percent respectively (Socialstyrelsen:2020: 11).
Regarding the unaccompanied minors’ responsibility and care, after the migration department received the minors, they alert the municipality their office is located, who then transfer the responsibility to the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare (henceforth Socialstyrelsen) in the municipality (Backlund, etl, 2014). The
Socialtjänsten in the municipality are tasked with providing care and help to the
minors as well as making decisions on cost, suitable place to live, mostly housing care (HVB, family homes or with relatives (Ibid). While social work personnel provide service and help at HVB housing, private citizens take responsibility of those who live with family homes at a certain cost (Backlund. Etl 2014). Meanwhile, the migration department are responsible for examining the
application, provide financial assistance and investigate the child’s asylum case and family location, to facilitate deportation if a child’s application is rejected (Ibid). According to chapter 6 of the Swedish law, children in Sweden have ‘a right to care, security and good upbringing’ as well as treating them with respect
both in personality and individuality and not subject them to any abusive
treatment (Kap. 6 &FB). The unaccompanied minors are protected also by central basic principles such as; prohibition of discrimination, the best interests of the child, child’s right to life and development and the child’s right to express his or her views (Articles 2, 3 6 & 12 respectively).
Besides these rights, unaccompanied minors like other children, have the right to special protection and family support where the parents are missing (Ibid). In this case, when a child is granted permanent residency, the social workers and
appointed guardians (gode man) play bigger role in fulfilling the minors’ needs and rights is provided to them (Ibid). The role of the social worker and gode man is to assume the same legal status of a parent and should therefore ensure the child’s right to care, security and good upbringing’ is observed (Socialstyrelsen 2020).
Social services relate the god man as the same way as guardians but are not tasked with physically providing for the daily care and supervision of the child (Ibid). Applying for the residence permit of the child, assisting the child during
questioning at migration department and participating in case of repatriation are some of the other tasks the gode man fulfils (Ibid). The gode man, many of them professionally social workers, corporate with social services workers and other community bodies. When the child is finally granted permission to stay
permanently or for certain period (uppehålltilstånd), social workers get fully involved, as the gode man role is reduced because most of the tasks will be taken by the social workers (Socialstyrelsen 2020), but where there is guardian, they still behold the responsibility(Backlund. etl 2014).
Unaccompanied minors who are granted residence either as a refugee or
alternatively in need of protection have the opportunity to be reunited with their parents in Sweden (as stated by chapter 5;1, 4 UTIl). But in case the parents of the unaccompanied minors arrive in Sweden as asylum seekers themselves, the migration Aliens Act (utlänningslagen), it will be referred to as family cohesion rather than family reunification (as stated by chapter 5;1, 4 UTIl).
In terms of education, unaccompanied minors both documented and
undocumented have rights according to social welfare rules, to be enrolled in schools and be provided education. It is the schools who are responsible for the education (Backlund. Etl 2014). The education should, according to skollagen
unaccompanied minors have right as well to good health care and dental care as other children and in accordance with the current legislation of the area they live (Socialnämnden, chap 7).
Social workers as a profession have a central role in meeting unaccompanied minors. They meet them in various situations, providing both issues of economy, living and social right, what competence they have is therefore a central questions of social work research, as they play such a central role in the life of those young people. In the next section I present previous research on social work in relation to unaccompanied youth.
3. Previous study
Past research on social workers experience and challenges shed light on working relationship between social workers and minors as well as well as social workers mixed understanding of the topic. There are theoretical researches done even though it is limited both nationally and internationally (Brunnberg, Borg & Fridström 2011).
According to Ekström (2019), In Sweden, it is the municipalities that resume the task and responsibility of providing unaccompanied minors with a place to live, legal guardian, social support and education (Eksrtöm, et al, 2019:723). Thus, Ekström states that, social service workers play a huge role in the daily lives of unaccompanied minors (Ibid). The minors mostly live in a specific housing centres meant for the unaccompanied minors and children from troubled families, with service providers in place and as well as social workers who visit often (Ibid). The social service categorized unaccompanied minors as a vulnerable group in the society (Ekström, etl 2019).
Previous studies have found unaccompanied minors as a highly vulnerable group in terms of mental health vulnerability (Mohwinkel, Nowak, Kasper & Razum, 2018:1). The absence or separation of parents in their crucial period of mental and physical development adds the additional psychological burdens (Ibid).
Unaccompanied minors were also found to have been mentally impacted compared to immigrant minors with two or single parent (Franco:2018). High number of unaccompanied minors were also found to have experienced physical and sexual violence during their journeys, displaying more symptoms of post-traumatic depression (Mohwinkel, Nowak, Kasper & Razum:2018:2).
Studies have also shown the differences in mental health impact in terms of gender. Female unaccompanied minors have been at a higher risk of sexual exploitation in their journeys (Ibid). Despite both genders facing post-traumatic stress and disorders, female unaccompanied minors were found to have been impacted more and coped worse compared to male minors (Mohwinkel, Nowak, Kasper & Razum:2018:2). The nature of mental health problems also differs between the two genders. Male unaccompanied minors report high levels of anxiety, self-harm, impaired sleep and adjustment reaction whereas female minors suffered dissociative disorders, depression and substance misuse (Majumder, O’Reilly, Karim & Vostanis:2014:3).
Given the geographical distance minors arrive from and the dangers they came through including but not limited to human trafficking, deaths of fellow
countrymen, the rough journey and threats to their life, most of them arrive with complex traumas (Franco:2018:553-554). While the unaccompanied minor refugees have better chance of staying compared to adult refugees/migrants, they still go through same process such as being apprehended if caught on borders or airports, having to live in refugee centres at times longer period and facing complex interviews ((Majumder, O ’Reilly, Karim & Vostanis:2014:5).
All this, according to authors, adds to their complex traumas and the challenge of doing almost all by themselves with no parents or relatives at such tender age. Mental health itself is a culturally stigmatised in most of the countries the minors come from which also hinders social workers ability to distinguish what ails the minors and if they need mental health support (Amri, 2012).
With all these traumas, the minors are then paired with social workers, although professionally trained with social work, rarely take into consideration the child’s trauma, cultural differences etc (Franco:2018:554). The social service providers workers in unaccompanied minors housing also report similar levels of physical and emotional levels of stress at hearing the minor’s narration of the difficult lives from their home country, at the hands of smugglers and to their destination
(Backlund, etl, 2014).
Social work itself is a professionally discharged which means following a set of rules which sometimes causes ethical questions. Putting demands and set of procedures before one is granted help (Cook:2020). Cook (2020) argues that, social workers are compelled by their profession and their employers because in many instances today, social work is not a ‘place of kindness’ but about
profitability (Cook:2020). Unaccompanied minors also have to live with fears relating to how they perceive the social workers and the trust between them because of the uncertainty as to which entity the social workers are connected to based on documentation and the questioning, creating distrust (Herz & Lalander: 2019:25). According to Herz and Lalander (2019), this can be as a result of social workers not being able to explain possible differences in how he/she works, thus creating cracks in confidence (Ibid).
Another cause of distrust is because, unaccompanied minors associating social workers as a diffuse threat or with punishment because they tend to be interpreted as the messenger ‘who presents decisions made by the system’(Ibid). Ultimately,
social workers get blamed for these decisions or any uncertainty surrounding the decisions made about the unaccompanied minors (Herz & Lalander: 2019:25).
In terms of cultural differences, given the differences of cultures in
unaccompanied minors home countries and to that of Sweden, social workers struggle to create an understanding that would not cause further cultural
differences (Wadensjö & Çelikaksoy, 2016). This result is relevant for my study as it poses the central question of what forms of cultural competence than social workers can need when meeting unaccompanied minors in their roles.
Other studies show that, many state funded services such as care homes, social work services continue to be privatised or given to private companies to run and this does cause ethical dilemmas (Winblad, Markell & Olsson, 2015).
Moreover, due to the scarcity of government/municipality owned housing centres, majority of the places unaccompanied minors live are owned and run by private companies who employ service providers (Ibid). According to Winblad, Markell & Olsson, (2015) privatisation of social services pose an ethical question.
Other past studies touch on stereotypes. Unaccompanied minors have faced enormous stereotypes both in Sweden and around Europe. Stereotypes linked with the unaccompanied minors are widely different but more often accusations about rape, extremism, questions about masculinity and not fitting in western societies among other accusations (Herz:2019:431). In a previous study, a group of ‘unaccompanied minors’ in Stockholm were accused of rape during a festival, which was later proven untrue (Herz:2019:443). A similar incident was reported in Cologne, Germany where a group of ‘young men’ with immigrant background were reported to have sexually assaulted women on New Year’s Eve in 2015 (Ibid). These has created a debate around unaccompanied minors and were labelled as threats to western culture. In creating an enemy image, the
unaccompanied minors’ origin was tied to their sexuality and views on gender (Ibid). The minors were also subjected to stereotype connecting acts they accused of to their religious beliefs and culture, again bringing the generalization of religious stereotypes on them (Ibid).
Gender is hugely important topic in social work and specifically when giving service to the unaccompanied minors. Although many of the minors integrate fast on subjects of gender, their understanding of gender and its roles is constantly questioned. The topic of masculinity and migrants, especially Muslims is debated in western politics because of the stereotype that women are considered inferior (Herz:2019:433). Demands that are put on male migrants that, they should be educated on views about masculinity and genders is a reproduction of racial and cultural hierarchies (Ibid).
Previous study shows that unaccompanied minors face challenges of trauma, cultural differences that hugely impacts them. The research also shows that social workers also meet other forms of challenges such as cultural competence and understanding as well as creating and maintaining trust among unaccompanied minors.
Criticism of social work
A key critical criticism of social work practice and use of evidence-based systemic ideas is, the ideas of social work practice is based on western values, (Cook:2020) which is the opposite of where, in this case, the unaccompanied minors come from. Social work teaching is embedded in certain dominant ideas and discourses (Sokomoto:2007) that is incompatible with for example the background origins of the unaccompanied minors. For example, some unaccompanied minors are put in the custody of families who take them for adoption (Wadensjö & Çelikaksoy: 2016:9).
The findings show the importance of Identity in today's’ social work practice because of increase in diversity in Sweden and the larger western world. It could range from questioning how knowledge is acquired in social work teaching and whether or not certain dominant ideas and discourses are unconsciously biased against or privileged towards a group, as argued by Cook (Cook:2020). According to Paulo Freire, education can be viewed sometimes as a tool of oppression that can dehumanise learners and stimulate oppressive attitudes and practices’ (Cook:2020). Social work knowledge such as values, evidence-based theories and disciplines is framed on western values but rarely questioning if these values and evidence-based theories are contributing to the oppression of other groups. Therefore, ‘decolonising’ social work and debating on uncomfortable
questions and interrogating knowledge and thinking is something social work study should engage in.
Evidence-based theories despite being well researched and funded, fails to take in to account the increasingly multi-cultural society due to primarily the Eurocentric discourses (Cook:2020). The argument against some social work theories is that, some of the methods and models are inherently ‘oppressive and potentially perpetuate discriminatory ideas and practice’ (Ibid). The author names family systems and attachment theories as examples of biased theories due to their Eurocentric views on families (Ibid).
Social worker professional’s role is also shaped by many influences including education, environment, the legal systems we find ourselves in, social systems, environment and our backgrounds. These influences all contribute to how we socialise and can make us develop unconscious bias in the absence of cultural adaptation (Cook:2020).
4.
Theory: Cultural humility
I will be using theory of cultural humility and combine with cultural competence to operationalise this study for various reasons that I will outline in this chapter as well as its relevance. Previous studies such as (Herz & Lalander, 2019) outline that culture plays an important role in the relationship between social workers and unaccompanied minors. I have therefore chosen cultural humility theory since it is essential to use in power dynamic relationships, client-focused care and
collaboration with communities (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998). Cultural humility is suitable theory since it is the capacity to maintain an ‘open mind and non-condemning position to others cultural perspective on subjects important to the person’ (Waters & Asbill, 2013).
Diversity in today's world continues to be recognized especially in the area of social work but less on cultural education and humility.
The theory of cultural humility was first developed and conceptualized by Melanie Trevalon and Jann Murray Garcia in the early 1990s by understanding ethically engaged profession in multicultural societies (Crath & Rangel: 2020:1). By engaging clients, one needs an understanding of their cultural identities, honouring their cultural stories and how it intersects with our own cultural story (Ibid). Hence cultural humility can be defined as ‘a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and critique, to redressing power imbalances and to developing
mutually beneficial and non-paternalistic partnerships with communities on behalf of individuals and defined population (Greene-Moton:2020:142). The developers of cultural humility concept also stressed that culture must not only be limited to ‘dimensions like race or ethnic identity’ but also include client-oriented workers in professions such as social and health workers which requires humility in dealing with clients, families and diverse communities (Ibid).
Cultural competence on the other hand means being aware of one’s own world view while developing ‘positive attitudes towards cultural differences’ (Greene-Moton: 2020:142-143). Cultural competence entails and focuses on gaining knowledge about different cultural practices while at the same time developing skills for communication and interaction across cultures (Greene-Moton: 2020:142-143).
To understand and make cultural competence function, certain principles such respect for diversity, trust, equity, fairness and social justice has to be fulfilled
(Livingstone:2020). Culture is a potent force itself than generally underlies and shapes ‘all human thought, emotion and behaviour (Hook, Davis &
Owen:2017:4).
Culture also shapes and influences the way in which we think, feel, behave and interact with others while also providing us with ‘a lens or point of view with which we see the world such as where we choose to live, work we do, who or whether we marry and our beliefs in God or Higher power (Ibid).
It is important to understand the contribution of cultural humility and competence because historically, professionals in social and health services used a universal principles that used ‘a one-size fits for all’ treatment, where ethnic groups, persons with depression, anxiety and disorders were categorized as one (Hook, Davis & Owen:2017:3). Therefore, understanding the cultural meanings and differences while not developing oppressive advocacy partnerships is essential. Scholars like Danso (2018) argue that cultural competence ‘incorporates the concept of cultural humility’ since it does ‘question one’s assumptions, beliefs and biases’ (Greene-Moton:2020:143).
Cultural competence also addresses other tenets of cultural humility and anti-oppressive tendencies such as ‘respect for difference, reducing power differentials and building partnerships and learning from clients’ (Ibid).
Similar to cultural humility, cultural competence is not something to achieve or fail but rather a continuous strive to learning more about other communities we come across daily either through work or where live. This would specifically help professionals such as social workers to know better diverse individuals and groups and communities in general in today's complex world (Greene-Moton: 2020:144). It is equally important when understanding cultural competence to consider the differences of families in home lives, interests of the youth, languages and traditions. When offering services to clients, it is important professions practice the core of culture humility which is being ‘client-focussed and equal power-dynamic relationship’ so as to avoid leveraging power to cause superiority (Greene-Moton: 2020:145).
Cultural humility and cultural competence are both as important since the two concepts complement each other. While cultural humility is the ability for one ‘to maintain an interpersonal stance that is ‘other-oriented’/being open to others, cultural competence on the other hand is the ability to interact effectively with
people of different cultures (Ibid). it is therefore imperative that both humility and competence be practiced both as a lifelong journey, without an end point (Ibid). Scholars also make a distinctive importance between cultural humility and cultural competence, with cultural humility more of a form of ‘spiritual attribute’ that draws the ability of one being ‘humble and couched in a state of selflessness’ while cultural competence ‘hinges on deliberate engagement in cultural
knowledge transfer’ (Greene-Moton: 2020:144).
Unaccompanied minors face challenges in new countries after all the adversities they grew up and saw on their way to their country of residence now
(Socialstyrelsen:2018). They need social workers who are oppressive, non-judgemental despite the demands of their work.
Relevance of theory
Applying cultural humility and cultural competence theory to unaccompanied minors is relevant in social work. Cultural humility and cultural competence provide essential guide to social workers since it questions their assumptions and perceived biases (Greene-Moton: 2020:143). The theory will also address the respect for difference and if or not they can build trust with the unaccompanied minors due to the lack of cultural understanding and competences. Understanding and evaluation pre-conceived biases/notions about refugees and in particular unaccompanied minors will also be valuable in understanding the problem. I will also focus on social workers general perspective and understanding of the unaccompanied minors’ origin and culture and what challenges they face. Even though the unaccompanied minors culturally differ, will that burden social workers even more in how they address these challenges?
This research will specifically focus on understanding social workers confidence in working with unaccompanied minors. Cultural humility and cultural
competence provide important knowledge to client-oriented professionals such as social workers working with people from different cultures i.e. unaccompanied minors.
5. Methods
In this research, I have interviewed social workers who are providing social services to both documented and undocumented unaccompanied minors. The research sought to identify if social workers confidence and competence in working and providing social services to unaccompanied minors.
I have used qualitative research design to understand social workers confidence and competence in working with unaccompanied minors.
Qualitative research
Silverman (2020) defines qualitative research as the type of research that finds out people’s experiences and helps us understand what is important for people
(Silverman: 2020:5). Qualitative research helps us in finding out experiences and also offers us the ability to get inside people’s heads, which makes it a concerned with subjective ‘meanings’, making it different to quantitative research which pursues objective ‘facts’ (Ibid). Qualitative research is concerned specifically with how people produce social reality through interactive processes i.e. the study of the methods used to produce reality in everyday life. This means that, qualitative research central concern of method focus is not the subjective meaning for the participants of an interaction and its contents but rather how this interaction is organised (Shaw & Holland:2014:9).
Qualitative research in the context of social work helps us, through their personal memory people give meaning to what has happened to them (Shaw &
Holland:2014:3). In regards to past memories that involved traumatic events, people are faced with questions about identity and their relations with other or the world which on one hand, they need to recollect and process those memories and on the other ‘they feel the need to distance from the pain and threat they faced (Ibid).
In qualitative research, certain guidelines are followed to remind us of moral obligations as we work with participants and get close to them due to the topics, the questions we ask and the time we spend with them (Silverman:2020: 36). It cannot be predicted the challenges on hand because they are contextual and situated (Ibid). As there are no universal standards in research ethics, the ethical dilemmas routinely discussed in offices are different to those we face in the field because the latter is are ‘interactionally produced’ (Ibid). Despite the lack of universal standard, there are major and mandatory research ethical issues
researchers must account for in their own studies and they include: codes and consent, confidentiality and trust (Ibid).
Research design
Research interview is a construed conversation through which narrative are produced (Silverman:2020: 71). It also views empirical results as ‘by-products of narrative practice’ that distinguishes between the ‘whats and hows of a
communication between subjects in an interview (Ibid).
In the interviews, I have conducted a phone and physical interviews with the social workers providing services to the unaccompanied minors in their offices and nearby coffee shops depending on their preferred place of interview. This is an important in exploratory research because it tends to bring the best response out of the person interviewed and feel the freedom to answer in depth to the qualitative research questions (Silverman: 2020:36).
The social workers interviewed were made aware that, the interview was recorded, and responses used in research anonymously, without their names or place of work being mentioned. In the context of informed consent, the subjects have the right to know that they are researched, informed about the nature or purpose of research, the right to withdraw anytime as well as benefit and risks (Silverman:2020: 36-37).
Due to the environment and the fact that it is an exploratory study, the social workers contributed new responses to the questions. The social workers were furnished with semi-structured and follow-up questions, asked verbally and in paper simultaneously to limit misunderstanding, in person and on phone. Social workers responded with openness and ease without any hint of
uncomfortableness. The questions were constructed to get results and what participants experienced. Qualitative research interview is meant to probe human existence in detail and to access subjective experiences, which allows researchers to describe intimate aspects of people’s life worlds (Kvale, 2007). Consequently, qualitative research is filled with moral and ethical issues because of the
complexities of ‘researching private lives and placing accounts in the public arena’ (Ibid), which this research followed.
Since the research is exploratory and conducted at such a short time, the researcher has been able to interview a limited number of social workers (4) providing services to unaccompanied minors. This number is well below the vast number of social workers working across Sweden, helping unaccompanied minors
and therefore, the responses cannot be used to generalize all social workers in Sweden.
Sample universe
The researcher identified the study population based on their profession and their role in providing services to unaccompanied minors. In identifying their inclusion criteria in the interview, a total of four social workers took part in the interview, all holding the role between two to fifteen years’ experience. Three of have social work degrees from universities. The fourth, is due to complete degree level in six months. The length of the interview was between 20-30 minutes. No exclusion criteria have been identified to disqualify any of the interviewees. No research permit was needed, and social workers answered questions from their personal capacity and lived experiences and not representant of their municipalities.
Data sampling
The qualitative research data was sampled through face-to-face and telephone interview that between the months of October and November 2020. Prior to the interviews, after acquiring and getting referrals, the researcher contacted
respective interviewees through email and phone calls to discuss the interview set-up, date, time and duration. The social workers selected, offered services to unaccompanied minors who are both documented and undocumented. The unaccompanied minors were both housed in housing centres (HVB), foster parents and guardians.
Before the start of the interview, social workers were made aware of the tape recorder and purpose of the interview, to which they consented. Consent and permission are ethically requirement in qualitative research (Silverman: 2020:37). During the interview, a sheet containing the questions were shared with the social workers and verbally discussed and audio-recorded. Important demographic information such as age, ethnic background, gender and level of education were also asked and collected.
This is relevant in identifying how these demographics translate to the cultural competence and experience in working with the unaccompanied minors. In doing so, the researcher has compiled 9 questions regarding social workers confidence and competence in working with the minors.
Before the interview and after compiling the interview questions, the researcher contacted the participants to go through the general procedures and how the information will be used and stored.
The contact also touched on how and where to meet and how the interviewees privacy will be kept. Two of the social workers accepted to be interviewed at their offices and one in a nearby café. The fourth social worker preferred interview over the phone on an agreed date, citing the precautions in place during the covid-19 period.
During the interview, all the privacy and confidential information including the use of their responses, consent and identity was verbally discussed again and signed. The interviews went as per required, with questions answered in what the researcher deemed as honest and to the best of their ability.
After the interview, the researcher thanked the social workers for their participation in the research.
In keeping with the privacy and consent agreement, the researcher used fictitious names and that the recordings will be discarded after the research is finished. Coding and consent refer to informed consent and it is part of mandatory ethical right participants have in qualitative research interview (Silverman: 2020:37). Participants demographics and location will, however, be used in the research to understand if their cultural, age and education has any effects on their confidence and competence in working with unaccompanied minors. This falls under
confidentiality, which is a complex issue because a breach or disclosure could harm the participants (Sally & Holland: 2014:116). Thus, the confidentiality of the participants was observed.
Data analysis
In analysing the interview data, the researcher used qualitative thematic analysis to address the research question. Thematic analysis approach is best used to focus on identifying themes in qualitative data (Auckland University journal).
Thematic analysis can be helpful in when studying variety of subjects including behavioural, health, education and in our case social work (Ibid). thematic analysis normally disaggregates the text into different meanings and calls for more extended quotations (Sally & Holland: 2014:222-227).
I have used the six-phase processes of thematic analysis and each phase builds on the previous. In this case, after recording the social workers interview, I have turned it into a written transcript.
Then followed by the following phases:
Familiarization of the data- reading and re-reading phase of the data to become familiar.
• Coding phase- (use of labelling) This involved identifying important features of the data that might be relevant to the research.
• Generating initial themes – This involved examining codes and later collating data relevant to each candidate theme.
• Reviewing themes- This phase is used to check candidate themes against dataset to determine their response validity.
• Defining and naming themes- After reviewing, this phase involves developing detailed analysis of each theme, the scope and focus and after that determining each interviewees story.
• Writing up – and in this final phase, it involves writing and adding up data extracts and then contextualizing the analysis in relation to existing
literature (Auckland University, Thematic analysis).
After following the steps above, the researcher compiled together the relevant responses and documents of the initials for the subjects as well as their
demographic data.
The social workers interviewed in this research mostly (3 of 4) work with
unaccompanied minors in Skåne region of Sweden. The fourth social worker lives and works in Stockholm region. In terms of demographic, the social workers age ranges between 32-54 years old. None of the participants had similar age. In terms of education, two of the respondents had master’s in social work, one with a degree certificate and the fourth was due to finish her social work degree. In terms of gender, there were three female and one male respondent. Three of the respondents were Caucasian (ethnic swedes), one of middle eastern dissent (Iraqi). Their work experience ranged between 2-15 years.
Demographic data Responses from participants Age 32 38 39 54 Ethnicity African Asian- Middle-Eastern Caucasian Other Experience: years 2 8 11 15 Education
Pursuing social work degree
Bach. Degree in social work
Master’s in social work Gender Male Female 1 1 1 1 0 1 3 0 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 1 3
6. Results
In this chapter, I will be providing the results of the interviews with social workers confidence and competence in working with unaccompanied minors. Their responses, each coded separately will be provided as well as their demographic data. Four themes have emerged from the interview.
Challenge in cultural understanding and adaptation Confidence was low among social workers
Social work and identity challenges
Evidence-based theories and interventions use was not enough I will now discuss the above themes in detail.
Findings implications
There are wide range of implications that can be taken from the interviews,
ranging from cultural adaption, identity, confidence and competence. The research shows deficiency and gaps in cultural understanding of social workers to serve unaccompanied minors. It also shows the need for social workers diversity. Even with the help of National Board of Health and Welfare services
(socialstyrelsen) guidebook and guidelines, social workers go through challenges. One of the first takeaway from the study is plurality of culture, meaning there are fewer ethnic minorities in the social work services. I have interviewed only four social workers, which makes hard to generalise the problem around the country. Only one of the social workers interviewed had own experience of migration and could talk other languages than Swedish and English. While my material is limited, it raises an important question of the cultural homogeneity of the social work profession in Sweden.
With ethnic minorities, social workers who are dual-language, especially one of the many languages spoken by the unaccompanied minors, is needed to bridge the lack of diversity in social work field. Three of the four participants were ethnic swedes and through the coding, they performed low on confidence and
competence in cultural understanding of the minors. The fourth participant, fluent in Arabic and Swedish, felt confident and competent.
Confidence
Respondents of the research expressed confidence in executing their roles and responsibilities in social work services to general service users. Their experience and understanding of the work ethics measured high too. But their confidence in working with specifically unaccompanied minors was lower. Three of the social workers expressed less confidence mainly due to other demographic difference such as language.
The low confidence in working with unaccompanied minors can be due to various reasons including language barriers, issues of trust etc. Findings show that, on of the reasons for the lack of trust is because social workers spend limited time with the unaccompanied minors, which can lower confidence and trust. One of the social workers complained how they spend so much time in offices and documenting rather than practically engaging minors. The participant stated:
‘We spend too much time sending reports and documents about each and every child. We also tend to document their replies rather than listening and engaging in conversation’.
This concern is similar to previous studies where, service users in social work once regarded being ‘the heart of social work’ but have fallen to being described as ‘out of favour (Herz &Lalander: 2019:9). The increased amount of time doing documentation rather than meeting service users can be due to the ‘tension between presence of social work based on bureaucracy and one based on professional autonomy’ (Herz & Lalander: 2019:19). The concern raised is, growing bureaucracy is affecting the core of social work (Ibid).
But one of the social workers who experienced migration and speaks Arabic on top of Swedish and English offered different reply on the question of confidence. The social worker argued despite the challenges of the work, she felt more confident partly due to her origin and cultural and language skills.
‘Yes, I do feel somehow competent in understanding the kids more and more. Not perfect always but I gained a lot of trust from them and they tend to be more open when I speak to them’.
This relates also to previous study where (Mohwinkel, Nowak, Kasper & Razum:2018) where social workers with migrant background tend to be more
confident and get well with the minors compared to ethnic swedes who speak Swedish and English alone.
Competence
The findings have found that, although social workers felt that they were
competent on their work duties and task guidelines, they felt that were not able to provide the right individualized services to unaccompanied minors due cultural misunderstandings. Three of the participants explained that they were ‘less competent’ in working with the minors. One of them said:
‘No, I don’t feel competent on which role or specific things to do. We are of course following the social services laws, but this feels a challenging and as a social worker for many years, I consult almost every other case to do with unaccompanied minor which tells you a lot (laugh).
A further participant was coy on the question and but did explain to be somehow competent enough’. The participant stated:
‘I may feel confident in working with the children but inside but sadly not competent on how to best work with the unaccompanied minors. It is hard to know everything about them…There are a lot of misunderstandings between us’.
This shows that, social workers are not missing the professional competence but rather the cultural adaption and understanding of the unaccompanied minors. To fill the gap of cultural misunderstanding, three of social workers interviewed opted to use evidence-based theories and professional guidelines when providing services.
‘We tend to use social work theories also provided in the unaccompanied minors guidebook and often we see it working. But not every theory is guaranteed to work with every child because they have different cultures and hence different adaption’
While theories are scientifically researched and funded, previous studies result show social workers complaint that as front-liners who face the challenge of delivering service to diverse public, they are less involved or listened to during
policy making (Cook:2020). This has led to the existence of systemic ideas in policies.
By systemic ideas, Vetere and Dallos defines it as the ‘idea that individual exist within systems which includes the family system as well as work, cultural and social systems’ (Vetere & Dallos:2003). From the definition, which tends to cover a broad spectrum, social workers struggled to locate their practice within a
definition.
On the other side, cultural humility and understanding is not used but instead more focus is emphasized on western interventions theories.
Instead of cultural adaptation and learning, social work encourages use of intervention theories (Cook:2020). Cultural humility as a theory itself helps ‘redress power imbalances and develop mutually beneficial’ understanding partnerships with communities if utilized well (Greene-Moton: 2020:142). Cultural humility sometimes comes in form of languages, culture and ethnic identity and if these are not taken into account when helping the unaccompanied minors, it does harm flexibility or the cultural adaption and integration needed from the minors. In this case, if the minors see acknowledgement of their culture, language and other demographic data that define them, they are more likely to accept service and corporate with social workers (Franco:2018).
Participants also agreed that bilingualism especially, one of many different languages spoken by unaccompanied minors is helpful in easily building rapport. This point is raised in the interview where, one of the social workers, despite relatively being new to the career, culture adaption gained the participant more trust and openness from the minors than fellow social workers due to her multilingualism. The participant stated:
‘The advantage with me is, with a background of middle eastern maybe, I
have from the start gained the minors trust and they have taken me in so easily. Speaking Arabic mainly helps but majority of the minors I work with come from Persia like Afghanistan, Iran and some from Somalia and Eritrea. I cannot put it all down to language alone, it is about having knowledge about their culture too, maybe’.
The findings further show, incorporating cultural humility and evidence-based theories has made social workers task and encounters with minors in offering services easy. One of the participants stated that:
‘Evidence-based theories we use are normally universal and applies to all
the minors but by incorporating it with cultural humility that… (I
understand your cultural values, language, beliefs and its uniqueness) … they start to appreciate, and we sense common understanding’.
Cultural humility offers social workers a sense of self-assessment on one’s competence and knowledge about other people. An absence of cultural humility can expose us to the stereotypes we hear about people of other communities, and in this case about unaccompanied minors (Greene-Moton: 2020:143).
The research findings show that, stereotypes can further constrain the relationship between social workers and the unaccompanied minors in the absence of cultural humility. This is because, these stereotypes can easily be developed by social workers too in the absence of self-reflection and cultural humility.
One of the participants alluded to the existence of stereotypes:
‘I sometimes go out with these children out and I can feel the stares they
get. It could be that because people have read a thing or two from... you know… online about unaccompanied minors. So many times, they get questioned about their backgrounds, country and age, which can
traumatise them. I just wish they don’t confront them in front me and say really mean things’’.
For social workers, understanding the existence of these stereotypes and addressing them in good tone can be helpful. Social workers cultural
incompetence even though unintentional can create within them an opportunity to develop stereotypes about the unaccompanied minors.
The findings show a risk of how culturally incompetent social workers can be affected by negativity and stereotypes about unaccompanied minors.
Mental health
Previous studies have also found unaccompanied minors as a highly vulnerable group in terms of mental health vulnerability (Mohwinkel, Nowak, Kasper & Razum:2018:1). The absence or separation of parents in their crucial period of mental and physical development adds the additional psychological burdens (Ibid).
Unaccompanied minors were also found to have been mentally impacted compared to immigrant minors with two or single parent, according to the participants. High number of unaccompanied minors were also found to have
experienced physical and sexual violence in previous studies, during their journeys, displaying more symptoms of post-traumatic depression (Mohwinkel, Nowak, Kasper & Razum:2018:2). Social workers may be able to minimize the children’s multi-layered traumas through cultural humility and improving their self-reflection and adaptation.
With confusing identity and housed in another family, unaccompanied minors face an early identity crisis which troubles them internally as one of the participants told me:
‘After sometimes, we usually find differences in child’s mood
between those in HVB housing and the ones adopted. The adopted child is less happy and performs worse in schools despite the family environment they live in’.
This is relatable to previous studies which state the unaccompanied minors coming from ‘closed cultures’, (Radjack, Touhami:2020) which makes it difficult for them to thrive in new families that is different to theirs.
Previous research on unaccompanied minors’ accommodation and well-being has also shown that, minors placed in foster and HVB housing often changed
accommodation citing uncomfortableness compared to when placed with relatives (Wadensjö & Çelikaksoy: 2016:10). Fewer change of residencies were reported when unaccompanied minors were placed under close relatives’ guardian (Ibid).
Gender roles tend to be different in the origins of the unaccompanied minors due to inequalities education and opportunities, but unaccompanied minors’
masculinity and gender questions has given rise to anti-immigration voices because of their vulnerability. Social workers interviewed understood less about awareness of existence of gender stereotypes without developing biases is essential step.
‘The gender roles and stereotypes levelled against the minors is huge, something I was not aware of. With time I have realised how big a problem this was weighing on their mental health’
Social workers interviewed also touched on increasing mental health cases and vulnerability among the unaccompanied minors.
‘This are minors away from their parents at a crucial development stage of their lives and we see this causing them traumas all around’.
Limitations and recommendations
This research was conducted in a short time and with a small participant and hence, cannot be generalized for the whole of social workers in Sweden. The interview was composed of few questions about social workers experience and confidence in working with unaccompanied minors and therefore, a broader research would be recommended to further answer the questions.
Due to time constraints and pre-agreement, social workers could not answer follow-up questions to their answers.
In future research, diverse sample would be essential to further understand social work policies and its impracticalities.
7. Conclusion
The research evaluated social workers experience, confidence and competence in working with unaccompanied minors living in Sweden. The social workers
participants took part in an interview provided using qualitative method. A total of social worker, three drawn from Skåne region of Sweden and one from
Stockholm.
The findings revealed social workers experience with unaccompanied minors to be strained and found impractical to build rapport and trust with them. Social workers use of intervention methods failed to work as well. The findings also showed social workers lack of confidence in discharging their duties to the unaccompanied minors due to various reasons including limited time to increased amount of time doing documentation rather than meeting service users.
The findings further reveal lack of cultural adaption and understanding due to cultural competence. Cultural competence and humility are fundamental pillars in in social work practice especially in this diverse societies today. Unaccompanied minors go through multi-layered traumas accumulated in their perilous journeys to Europe. In the absence of cultural adaption, social workers expose themselves to developing existing stereotypes about their service users.
Further, the studies have found high level of traumas and depression among the unaccompanied minors and social workers inability to detect and offer treatments. Social workers complained of over-working and workloads as well as lack of consultations during policy makings.
The findings show the importance of Identity in today's’ social work practice because of increase in diversity in Sweden and the larger western world. It could range from questioning how knowledge is acquired in social work teaching and whether or not certain dominant ideas and discourses are unconsciously biased against or privileged towards a group.
The research also found high prevalence of Eurocentric literatures evidence-based theories and thereof, lack of multicultural interventions in social work practice. A need for a broader multicultural intervention is needed in future. Social workers continuous opposition to unilateral use of evidence-based theories prove that,
despite the importance of interventions, they are not meeting the unaccompanied minors both individual and collective unique needs.
Demographic questions
What is your gender? How old are you?
What is your race/ethnicity?
What is your highest education level so far?
Interview questions
How many years have you been in social work serve?
And how many of those have you given service to unaccompanied minors? How is your working experience, interaction and establishing contact and rapport with minors?
Do you feel confident working and giving service to general service users such as unaccompanied minors?
Are there times you feel a bit ‘incompetent’ about unaccompanied minors needs, identity?
What methods do you use in building trust and rapport with the minors? Are there deficiencies and lack of reforms in social work practice regarding diversity?
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