Social workers supporting unaccompanied minors

In this new item we draw attention to a blog by Deborah Hadwin, a social work practitioner and now Senior Lecturer, whose doctoral research focuses on local authority practice with unaccompanied young people leaving care.

In June 2020 I had the pleasure to talk to Deborah Hadwin, who currently works at De Monfort University Leicester, as a Senior Lecturer in social work. Her teaching focuses on Practice modules for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of social work. Prior to entering into Higher Education, Deborah spent 18 years as a registered social worker, focusing on children’s social work, including a numbers of years with unaccompanied young people seeking sanctuary. 

For her doctoral studies, she has been looking at local authority practice with unaccompanied young people leaving care. Deborah’s research shares some synergistic elements with the CCoM project. She describes being motivated to understand the exclusionary politics faced by young people, especially as they approached their early adulthood. In her blog, she describes times in her own practice where she had to navigate conflicting legislation in the forced binary of immigration vs children. 

Our discussion, and Deborah’s writing of the blog, took place during the lockdown for the covid-19 pandemic. Her blog is a call for no one to be left behind or undervalued, regardless of the pressures that arise for those working with vulnerable young people in difficult situations. 

To read about Deborah’s blog, where she makes suggestions for some of the practical steps that local authorities can take in supporting unaccompanied young people, click on this link.

To find out more about Deborah’s work, you can click here.