“It’s normal, you just gotta get used to it.” Professional, institutional and organisational challenges for social work in residential care

This article explores institutional, organisational and professional challenges facing social work in the context of residential childcare. Starting from the experiential knowledge of one youth as an exemplary case, we examine representations of systemic challenges as they unfold in her story. Using her knowledge as point of departure, the article shows how social workers in residential care units tend to be placed in a squeeze between institutional and organisational regulations and professional ideals that may contradict children’s needs for trust and long-term relationships. Despite the good intentions and efforts of governmental bodies and legislators to prepare the professional context for providing young people with not only care and trust, but even love, both social workers and youth experienced with residential care are at risk of being marginalised. This becomes especially clear when young people are about to exit a residential care unit. After analysing this situation, we call for a revitalisation of the social in social work, and of practices aligned with ethical work (Banks, 2016) and interstitial work (Andersen, 2022). This is important, as the focus by state governance on judicial frameworks and human rights increasingly challenges foundational principles of social work by individualising social workers’ ethical responsibility.