Authors; Bini Araia, Nada Abdulla, Helen Casey, Luwam Tekeste, Ibrahim Dialllo, Anna Makoni, Yvonne Mondiwa, Elaine Spencer.
Introduction
‘Mend the Gap’ is a model for the effective involvement of people who are at the receiving end of services, together with those who provide professional support. PowerUs is an international network of service users, students, academics, researchers and practitioners who use this model in education and practice. (www.powerus.eu)
The aim of this approach is to promote an equal learning environment where people can share knowledge and experiences about their roles. Mend the Gap courses have shown that when we identify ‘gaps’ between people we open up a dialogue which challenge barriers and discrimination.
This chapter is about a mend the gap programme with single asylum-seeking parents and social work students which was identified with the help of two local community organisations, Investing in People and Culture (IPC) and The Other Perspective CIC that exist to promote the social and economic inclusion and equal rights of marginalised communities including refugees and asylum seekers in the North east region. It is the third gap mending programme which took place in 2019 building on the work of the first programme in 2017 with adult refugees and asylum seeker groups and the second in 2018 with unaccompanied minors. The value of this approach to learning led to the establishment of ‘mend the gap’ as an educational model within the North East Social Work Alliance (NESWA) Teaching Partnership led by The Open University
The programme was co-delivered by an Open University educator who is including the work and findings within a broader research project as a part time PHD student at Durham University.
Fourteen parents took part in the programme out of sixty single parents living in two hostels with children under five years old. Ten other participants included social work students, a qualified practitioner, educator and IPC project manager. Key gaps had been identified prior to the programme commencing by parents which is a unique feature of the gap-mending approach, for those in the most marginalised position to set the agenda instead of professionals. The gaps identified informed the themes for dialogue.
The main gaps identified were around housing, finance, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, mental health, education and safeguarding. All contexts where social workers have a role and influence yet a general lack cultural understanding was seen to be the main reasons why parents were not accessing the support they need.
This chapter was written over the eight-week period when parents were participating in the gap mending programme, to explore in more depth gaps around their strong negative feelings and reflect on how this could change through the programme. It is written from the conversation which took place between four mothers, one father, a social work practitioner, social work educator and IPC project manager.
The starting point was agreement that everyone would least like to have a social worker coming to their home. The reasons for this were explored around the key theme of power. Parents described having a very clear perception in the community shared widely amongst refugee asylum seeker parents that even when struggling they would not want to see a social worker. They would rather struggle than put themselves in this ‘danger’.
Putting themselves forward to try to overcome these barriers with social workers and students, parents admitted that after the first session where people came together it was ‘an eye opener’, ‘not that bad’. People began to explore some of the mis conceptions of the social work role. One woman had been contacted by a social worker to arrange a home visit, she decided that she would rather return to Syria than risk the social worker coming to her home as she believed to remove her son. This level of fear is very common. It is standard that a social worker will make contact with a Syrian family arriving in the UK to ensure they have the support they require but this is not understood. The Syrian mother was terrified of losing her son from the moment she was contacted. Such mis-conceptions of the social work role come from the community who believe that social workers hold the most power over them. If social workers were more immersed in the local community building relations with BME organisations they would be welcomed to come and meet with parents to explain their role. Social workers need to make time for this and be supported by their agencies.
Another example shared was of a parent who had left her children alone with the oldest eight in charge of the youngest, two. When she returned from the local shop with her baby she was met by a social worker and police officer in her home who removed all three children. The distress that followed and the long delay with getting her children back could have all been avoided had she understood that what was culturally acceptable in her home village in Africa was against the law in the UK. It is important that parents in the community are aware of safeguarding legislation to prevent problems.
Parents found that religious and cultural viewpoints are often dismissed during social work assessments which results in them being viewed as bad parenting. If social workers had better cultural understanding, assessments could be very different. Research conducted by Community Care supports this;
‘Culturally competent practice can result in positive outcomes for service users, particularly in areas such as mental health, where cultural competence has been found to have had positive impact on service users from ethnic minority groups. This is due to workers being able to understand every aspect of the person’s concerns, thereby enabling them propose interventions and care that are more likely to succeed (Thyer et al, 2010)’ in Community Care,(2018)..
Local authorities are seen by parents and organisations working to support the BME community to be institutionally racist due to a basic lack of awareness of cultural and religious importance. One mother described how upset she was that her social worker arranged her visits on ‘her way home’ on a Friday afternoon, presumably having the added bonus of an earlier finish. Fridays, ‘Jumah’ are the most important day of the week for Muslims to prayer. Why isn’t there a standard sign in every social services office illuminating such facts to ensure that visits aren’t arranged on such days? Parents feel too afraid to challenge anything the authorities do for fear this will impact negatively on them. Parents feel powerless when it comes to appointments and making arrangements, a good practice message echoed across all professions is to ask the person receiving the service when would be good for them to meet. A starting point to empower parents would be to give options to meet, with information about the purpose of the meeting so that people do not feel terrified like the Syrian mother that they are coming to remove their children.
Only one male parent joined the group who explained how excluded men felt from conversations with social workers. He felt that focus was always placed on the mother as if men were in some way guilty of perpetrating something wrong. Where a family home is broken up i.e. where a child is removed, the father is asked to leave the home. Without any support it is very easy for fathers to become depressed, destitute. This parent described one father’s attempted suicide stating that there is an unreported growing number of asylum seeker fathers who have attempted to take their life and therefore a growing urgency to establish more support for men.
‘Men need to be involved in discussions affecting them and their families’.
Another gap explored was about banning the practice of Female Genital Mutilation. Social workers need to be able to have these discussions with men as well as women. Since the law was introduced banning FGM in 2003, the first prosecution in the UK took place in 2019. FGM is a much hidden taboo subject which continues to be practiced in many cultures.
A recent report has highlighted how FGM is ‘increasingly performed on UK babies’ – BBC News, (2019)
The discussion points for mending gaps centred on how do social workers raise the topic of FGM? It is important that practitioners have knowledge and cultural awareness of FGM and how girls and women can be protected. If someone is going away to a country where FGM is practiced, social workers can support them with having an emergency plan.
If it becomes suspected that a chid may be taken abroad to undergo FGM, social workers and the police can intervene and it is not uncommon for people to be stopped at the airport. People know this, therefore it becomes more hidden as people will be taken abroad without knowing why.
A scenario was discussed where someone wants to go abroad and arrives to discover a secret plan to take the child for FGM. What would you do? This opened up conversation about the importance of being prepared. Planning ahead should involve phone numbers for the foreign office, the local authority. It is important to have an escape route.
Housing was experienced as the biggest gap creating lots of stress, cultural clashes and other problems which could lead to social work involvement.
There are approximately 600 asylum seekers in Middlesbrough (asylum seeker statistics, 2018), three buildings of single mothers – approximately 30 women in each (two in Middlesbrough, one in Stockton) – with children under 11. Parents want their children to achieve more but would never seek help from social services.
‘Parents fear social workers and would not want their involvement at all’.
As on parent stated; ‘If you don’t have the language you cannot express your frustration. If you don’t have status you have no choices.’
This feeling of having no voice in processes was widely shared at the outset of joining mend the gap and over the weeks as people found their voices they expressed releasing their frustration and gaining more information about choices and their rights. The Immigration & Asylum Act 1999 (s95 & s4) entitles people to accommodation whereby people could be dispersed anywhere. Provision clearly states this is on a ‘no choice’ basis. This message of ‘no choice’ is one parents heard over and over again. They said they never heard any messages about their rights. G4S had a national contract with the government and they subcontract to private landlords. Experiences were shared of unsatisfactory accommodation, families being forced to share, cultural clashes and tensions which were not at all addressed or supported by the landlord.
Parents reported that the landlord’s employees enter the family’s rooms at any time unannounced which feels intrusive and disrespectful. The feeling is that they come to check up on them, catch them out to report them. The power they had over them, to determine whether or not they could stay in their accommodation made them live in a permanent state of fear.
One mother explained that her son has to go to bed early as he is up for school the next morning, but she shares a flat with a mother with a toddler who stays up all night and sleeps during the day. They each have a bedroom – mother and child sharing – the noise keeps her son awake so he is always tired for school.
Other parents described regular scenes where fights broke out due to insufficient space especially the kitchen which children witnessed. The police are called out regularly to deal with such disputes, but; ‘Nothing happens and nothing changes. No-one intervenes and helps’.
Unsuitable accommodation arrangements put huge stress upon parents and children. We identified through the gap mending programme that whilst it is a ‘no choice’ basis this does not mean parents do not have any rights. Further, social workers are best placed to support parents with understanding and gaining their rights. Social workers are best placed to fight, to challenge, to mend these gaps by referring to housing policy which stipulates that ‘people should receive fair treatment’. Clearly when they are not this should be reported;
‘Social workers need to find the right information and use their power to help those with no power’ .
The local provider housing policy is underpinned by the Home Office guidance on accommodation for asylum seekers. This was a very timely conversation for our group as the Home Office were about to review their guidance on accommodation also their guide to asylum seeker life in the UK. Hearing about our programme via the local migration support service who were most supportive of mend the gap, we were contacted by the home office so that parent’s experiences could inform their updated reports. Also, the decision had been taken to end the Government’s national contract with G4S, three years after they were exposed for making people highly vulnerable by painting the door of properties where asylum seekers are placed red; The Guardian, (2016).
The Governments new contracts with a range of new providers provided an opportunity to end the local landlord contract and find a new local provider. Women’s voices informed this process as conversations took place over who would take this on in the region. There is a saying in Eritrea;
‘When the wolves are fighting the antelope escapes’.
In this context whilst landlords wrangled parents got an even better deal as the home office determined to ensure their situation improved. All parents have escaped the unsuitable, cramped housing conditions they had suffered for so long and have been provide with single housing accommodation, one house – not room – per family.
This outcome demonstrates how the biggest gaps can be mended when people come together to share their lived experiences. Home Office guidance makes many positive efforts to ensure people access suitable accommodation and exercise their rights to fair treatment and have their complaints heard and resolved within reasonable time periods. Unfortunately, the reality for parents on our programme was very different to this. The Home office listened to parent’s experiences and new solutions were found. Mending gaps with policy makers is an essential way forward to improving outcomes for some of the most marginalised people in our society
‘Whatever the perceived or actual challenges associated with cultural competence, social workers are required to acknowledge the importance of it in their engagement with service users and also recognise their professional commitment of ‘respect for diversities’ and promotion of social justice and human rights, themes which are embedded in the global definition of social work’. Community Care ibid (2018), which is;
Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing. The above definition may be amplified at national and/or regional levels. IFSW (International federation of Social Workers), 2014.
One of the underpinning principles of this definition is that social workers advocate and uphold human rights which is seen as the ‘motivation and justification for social work’. This requires social workers to have an ‘understanding of particular cultural values, beliefs and traditions’ and ‘via critical and reflective dialogue with members of the cultural group vis-à-vis broader human rights issues’. IFSW, ibid.
It is our view that the gap mending approach is the way to achieve this global aim. People from the asylum seeker and refugee community who have participated in mend the gap programmes have found out about their rights for the first time. Social work students and practitioners have developed their knowledge of human rights. Everyone has said they have a significantly improved cultural understanding which has led to co-produced knowledge and learning. The poor image parents had of social workers at the beginning of the programme was changed in a matter of weeks. Parents stated that they no longer fear social workers now that they understood that the role of a social worker is to keep families together, be a support to them, to fight for their rights.
This five minute recorded evaluation demonstrates this; https://vimeo.com/333943592/5bd335ecab
Unless students, lecturers and educators get out into the community to learn together with people the barriers between people will remain.
One further outcome of the gap mending programme has been the establishment of a drop in which is co-facilitated by a social worker and community project manager based at Investing in people and Culture. This ensures that parents from across the community can come to find out about the way in which they can be better supported.
Conclusion
Final message from parents;
‘There is a lack of trust, an imbalance of power in communities. Social workers need to make links with community leaders and organisations. Parents, students, practitioners, educators and policy makers need to work together, sharing power and promoting rights in order to mend the gaps between us.’
References;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47076043, accessed 14/12/2019
https://cityofsanctuary.org/2018/08/23/latest-asylum-statistics-to-june-2018/ accessed 14/12/2019
https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2018/10/24/tips-social-workers-cultural-competence/ accessed 14/12/2019
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/26/g4s-jomast-bosses-admit-number-asylum-seeker-red-doors-too-high-select-committee accessed 14/12/2019
https://www.ifsw.org/what-is-social-work/global-definition-of-social-work/ accessed 14/12/2019
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/33/part/VI accessed 14/12/2019
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