Paper short abstract:

In Norway there is a political debate about childcare protection in which migrant families report fear the child protection will “steal” children, ruin family and sense of belonging/wellbeing. I argue a need to attend to affects to counter child protection as structure creating violation/injustice

Paper long abstract:

This paper responds to a heated political debate concerning Norwegian childcare protection services with a focus on migrant families reporting fear that the childcare protection will “steal” their children, ruin their family, thus violate senses of belonging and wellbeing. Based on in-depth interviews with parents and childcare protection workers, and inspired by critical phenomenology, the paper points towards experiences of structural injustice, discomfort and un-belonging. I argue childcare protection practices to reflect a neo-liberal paradigm in which social justice involves application of the same principles of evaluation and distribution to all persons regardless of their social position and backgrounds making a practice of difference-blindness as part of a structural injustice. Feelings of discomfort and senses of belonging and wellbeing are not only products, but also ‘do’ things in the childcare protection as they mobilize actions, decisions and interpretations, and are thus lively actants in the service process. Reflecting on the assessment management that guide childcare workers, the making and sustaining family and home are here at stake, and I suggest, tend to create senses of discomfort and un-belonging among migrant families as their views, narratives and truth are largely neglected. Also, many childcare workers experience a “bugging feeling”, which in turn interplays in many childcare protection workers’ experience of discomfort in their practice. From such analysis, I argue a need to direct attention to such affects to counter childcare protection as a structure creating violation and injustice and rather support and better the lives of immigrant children and families.