Children and Coercion. Recent Trends in Governing and Divergent Discourses in Residential Child Care.

Project summary

How we give meaning to our experiences constructs reality, and thereby our social practices. This dissertation explores how children in coercive residential care give meaning to their experiences and how professionals working within these institutions give meaning to their work. The empirical field is Norwegian institutions approved for children with serious behavior problems where placements are governed by the Child Welfare Act, Paragraph 4-24 (coercion), and the study is based on interviews with children and professionals in these institutions. When a child is placed in coercive residential care, several dilemmas are at stake, both of moral, ethical and professional character. The aim of this study is to contribute to knowledge of how children and professionals give meaning to everyday life in residential child care, in addition to discussing how these processes are related to recent trends in governing. This study applies a discourse theoretical approach, and attention is thus given to the role of language in meaning-making. The following main research question is explored: What discourses are in use when professionals and juveniles give meaning to their experiences of everyday life in residential child care, and what are the possibilities for and constraints on governing found within the identified discourses? The dissertation consists of three articles, which separately contribute to shed light on different aspects related to the two trends in governing that are discussed. 

Method

Qualitative methods, interviews and focus groups.

Discoursanalytical approach.