Radical Social Work vs State Sanctioned Social Work: Exploring the practice related tensions and experiences of social work practitioners volunteering to support asylum seekers in Calais and Dunkirk (France) and in the United Kingdom

In September 2016, two social workers formed Social Workers Without Borders (SWWB). The call for volunteers to support asylum seekers in Calais received a big response, with practitioners offering their services to undertake assessments and support children and families, trapped in the Calais camp. The work undertaken by SWWB has been seen as in-line with the radical social work approach, which embraces activism and campaigning, it is therefore important. With this in mind, the work that SWWB does through its volunteers raises the question of activism and championing Human Rights for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, and a re-affirmation of radical social work practice.

There are questions as to the extent to which social workers embrace radical approaches, in the climate of managerialism which has dominated social work practice since the late 1980s and early 1990s. This approach is seen as stifling social work practice, through its procedural processes, statutory nature of practice and the lack of creative thinking by practitioners. This small-scale study explores issues experienced by British Social Workers volunteering with SWWB and working for local authorities, engaged in the transnational/cross border case work. Through initial findings gathered, the paper explores, issues and synergies between local authority social work practice and volunteering for a non-governmental organisation, on issues of immigration and asylum seeking. It further explores how social workers navigate practice issues between a radical social work approach and the state sanctioned reductionist model employed by most local authorities in the UK.