Victim or troublemaker? Young people in residential care

Abstract

Young people who live in residential care are caught between discourses of being a victim of abuse and inadequate care or being a troublemaker by their own conduct. Both discourses are rooted in the reasons for placement, and they will offer subject positions that are experienced as troubled. Repeated interviews with young people living in residential care provided by child protection services demonstrate how the youths position themselves within such prevailing discourses and negotiate social claims and expectations of appropriate development. While some try to normalise their problematic behaviour and thereby reject being a troublemaker, others insist that they are victimised as a result of the placement and thus displace the cause of their troubles. The study shows that, in this negotiation of possible subjectivities, some youths manage to take advantage of the placement in surprising ways, while others get blocked in their own developmental efforts.

Keywords:

• subjectivation
• troubled subject positions
• youths
• residential homes
• possible selves
• discourse

Notes

1. The abbreviation ‘CPS’ is used as a translation of the term barnevernet as applied in a Norwegian context. Similarly, the term ‘CPS child’ (barnevernsbarn) is used as a designation for children and youths who are in contact with CPS. In the present context, it will mainly refer to the subcategory ‘youths living in residential homes’.

2. Although it is not very common, young people can receive support from CPS until they reach the age of 23, according to Norwegian law.