Transnational Family Work in Refugee Mi...

Little research has been done on how educational professionals deal with the physical separation of families with refugee experience. This article sheds light on this research gap. It provides an insight into the state of research on transnational families and transnational family work. On the basis of a qualitative interview study, and taking into account the sensitizing concepts of ‘doing and displaying family’, it explores how social workers perceive not only unaccompanied minors in residential child and youth welfare facilities, but also their whole family network and how they constitute or do not constitute pedagogical family work across nation-state borders. In the light of three case descriptions, the paper develops starting points for transnational family work. So far, transnational family work has rarely been an issue of interest in social work research and practice. It is central not only to refugee migration, but for all families that do not live in a shared local area.