Narratives on leaving care in Switzerland: Biographies and discourses in the 20th century.

Research on institutional care and its long‐term effect on life trajectories provides crucial and sometimes unexpected insights. In a qualitative study in Switzerland, we have conducted 37 narrative interviews with people who experienced residential care between 1950 and 1990. The analysis was based...

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Published in:Child & Family Social Work Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 248 - 258
Main Authors: Keller, Samuel, Gabriel, Thomas, Bombach, Clara
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell May2021
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: May2021
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
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        atl: Narratives on leaving care in Switzerland: Biographies and discourses in the 20th century.
      aug:
        au:
          Keller, Samuel
          Gabriel, Thomas
          Bombach, Clara
        affil: School of Social Work, Institute of Childhood, Youth and Family, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland
      sug:
        subj:
          Residential Care Switzerland
          Nursing Homes
          Nursing Home Residents Psychosocial Factors
          Biographies
          Human
          Switzerland
          Female
          Male
          Adult
          Aged
          Aged, 80 and Over
          Middle Age
          Qualitative Studies
          Interviews
          Conceptual Framework
          Grounded Theory
          Child Welfare
          Vulnerability
          Descriptive Statistics
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Aged: 65+ years
          Aged, 80 & over
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Female
          Male
      ab: Research on institutional care and its long‐term effect on life trajectories provides crucial and sometimes unexpected insights. In a qualitative study in Switzerland, we have conducted 37 narrative interviews with people who experienced residential care between 1950 and 1990. The analysis was based on a reconstructive life course perspective and grounded theory. The findings show a complex interplay of residential care context (here: narratives from expert discourses) and intersubjective experiences during and after care. Most interviewees learned from their experiences to be sceptical of social relationships and of all kinds of state interventions—even decades after having left. A few were able to take charge of their lives and steer them in an individually successful direction. In these cases too, results point to fragile concepts of success. Thus, critical questions about residential care in these decades remain. We suggest that rather than abolish residential care facilities, we need to gather more evidence about the factors that contribute to high‐quality out‐of‐home‐placements. As professional settings, they can enable young people individually. They need to avoid responding to children as 'objects of care', by neglecting all subjective dimensions and reproducing a pattern of powerlessness with a strong focus on formal, measurable goals.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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