Between diverging discourses of the child: juveniles’ self-construction in coercive residential care

ABSTRACT

Based on a qualitative study, this article explores how Norwegian juveniles construct themselves through stories of everyday life in coercive residential care and how this is related to diverging discourses of the child’s status in society. The findings reveal two dominant positions of identification—the autonomy position and the responsibility position—which are discussed as made possible by the child-as-citizen discourse. The article argues that juveniles self-constructions primarily contrast but also are intervened with the dominant discourse of the vulnerable child in social work. The article concludes that recognising juveniles’ in residential care as citizens implies a critical evaluation of practices inherent in the discourse of the vulnerable child.

KEYWORDS:

• Children
• juveniles
• self-construction
• discourse
• residential care
• citizenship

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Ms Monika Alvestad Reime is a PhD student and Assistant Professor at Western Norway University of Applied Science. She holds a Master of Administrative and Organization Theory and a BA in Social Work.