Premium
Vulnerability and agency: Beyond an irreconcilable dichotomy for social service providers working with young refugees in the UK
Author(s) -
O'Higgins Aoife
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20012
Subject(s) - refugee , vulnerability (computing) , agency (philosophy) , service provider , social work , focus group , face (sociological concept) , work (physics) , service (business) , sociology , psychology , public relations , social psychology , political science , business , social science , computer security , law , marketing , mechanical engineering , engineering , computer science , anthropology
Abstract Many young refugees face significant difficulties in securing support from social services providers. This study invited 21 young refugees aged 16 to 21 to take part in focus groups and follow‐up interviews about their experiences of accessing this support. The findings reveal that young refugees may deliberately conform to expectations about their vulnerability in order to benefit from greater support from service providers. Social workers may fail to consider young refugees' abilities and understand the ways in which each individual is vulnerable. The study suggests that group work may be an effective way to engage young refugees to overcome this. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.