‘We need to talk about Bona’: an autoethnographic account of fostering an unaccompanied asylum seeker

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘We need to talk about Bona’

T2 - an autoethnographic account of fostering an unaccompanied asylum seeker

AU - Daly, Maura

AU - Smith, Mark

PY - 2021/4/21

Y1 - 2021/4/21

N2 - This article offers an account of the authors’ experiences as foster carers for an unaccompanied asylum seeker (and through him, supporting other asylum-seeking boys). We are both qualified and experienced social workers, now social work academics living and working in Scotland, whose practice is informed by socio-pedagogical perspectives. Our backgrounds have given us unique and finely grained insights into the daily care issues facing young asylum seekers set against a backdrop of global movement. We discuss the need to provide care that offers cultural safety; the centrality within this of recognising and seeking to understand religious beliefs and practices; the experiences of young people growing up in conditions of liminality, negotiating two very different cultures; the inadequacy of current social work responses; the importance of everyday care and relationships and the need for a curious and reflexive orientation from caregivers.

AB - This article offers an account of the authors’ experiences as foster carers for an unaccompanied asylum seeker (and through him, supporting other asylum-seeking boys). We are both qualified and experienced social workers, now social work academics living and working in Scotland, whose practice is informed by socio-pedagogical perspectives. Our backgrounds have given us unique and finely grained insights into the daily care issues facing young asylum seekers set against a backdrop of global movement. We discuss the need to provide care that offers cultural safety; the centrality within this of recognising and seeking to understand religious beliefs and practices; the experiences of young people growing up in conditions of liminality, negotiating two very different cultures; the inadequacy of current social work responses; the importance of everyday care and relationships and the need for a curious and reflexive orientation from caregivers.

KW - foster care

KW - social pedagogy

KW - social work

KW - Muslim

KW - asylum

KW - refugee

KW - unaccompanied

KW - autoethnography

KW - Scotland

U2 - 10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2021.v10.x.005

DO - 10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2021.v10.x.005

M3 - Article

SN - 2051-5804

VL - 10

SP - 1

EP - 13

JO - International Journal of Social Pedagogy

JF - International Journal of Social Pedagogy

IS - 1

ER -