To create a home for unaccompanied children : Staff´s experiences of their professional role

The aim of this study was to understand how staff at residential homes for unaccompanied children experiences their professional role. The main focus of the study was on how the staff defines their professional role and how they handle the situation to be close and at the same time keep a distance towards the children in care. Five women and two men were interviewed at five different residential homes for unaccompanied children. By symbolic interactionism we are able to see that the professional roles are shaped through interaction with the children in care as well as in relation to colleagues. The main role for the staff is to build up a relationship with the children. This also includes an emotional aspect which demands ability to closeness at the same time as there is a need to be able to keep a distance. This also marks the interviewee’s definition of how to be professional. How the children’s age defines has also an impact on the staff’s definition of their profession which means that both staff and children are forced to redefining their role in the residential home. We also found that a main purpose in the role as staff was to actively work with integration towards the children in care. Another interesting result that affects the ability to closeness and distance is the fact of being a young woman as staff, because of the cultural differences that exists between staff and the children in care