She makes love just like a woman: Romantic love narratives and young women in state care

Abstract

This article has been designed to stimulate discussion about romantic love. Despite appearing to be a rather peculiar topic for social workers to contemplate, the author contends that romantic love may be an important site for social work intervention, particularly when working with young women residing within the substitute care system. Findings generated from a) unstructured interviews conducted with five London based social workers, b) a review of relevant pieces of feminist literature, and c) reflections on the author's own practice experiences, will be used to argue that conventional romance narratives (and their corresponding gender scripts) can operate as a powerful mediator of future outcomes for this group of social work clients.