Parenting in migration: Critical aspects and challenges of “doing family” of refugee families and social workers

Summary: Although migrant families comprise a small number of immigrants, they present a significant challenge for the host community. In the Italian context, social services support migrant families through paths to autonomy and integration in the community. The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions that families and social workers have of “parenting” and “doing family” (training and management of family identity, roles and daily practices) in the complexity of migration. The study involved 15 immigrant parental couples, using family interview techniques and 12 social workers in 3 mini-focus groups. The collected materials were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using grounded theory. Findings: The main results are identified and discussed as strengths, critical points and challenges. Some of the themes such as “willingness to work” or “lack of job opportunities” are common to both family members and social workers. Other themes are relevant to one group only. Among these, “availability and support of social workers” only emerged among families, whereas “education and respecting the rules” only emerged among social workers. Applications: The results indicate that it is necessary for social workers to engage in a meaningful helping relationship with families, build networks of inclusion services, and also with the support of mediators overcome linguistic and cultural barriers. Social workers should involve families throughout he integration process. Furthermore, social services must also consider how families experience the difficulty of relating to social workers, which represents an obstacle to support for social integration.