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Applied theories in social work are social constructs that evolve according to cultural, political and social trends. The history of community work in Europe after the Second World War provides an example of a family of practices that is constantly evolving, in terms of its integration into social work, its methods, and the political project that underpins it. While the development of broad-based and conscientising approaches were challenged by neo-liberalism from the 1980s on, community work practice is currently undergoing a revival based on community building and person-centred methods, under the influence of the new public management. This paper is based on a doctoral research conducted in six European countries, examining the relationship between social work and community work, and the various forms of community work across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue examines welfare programs as sites where Europe's increasingly diverse societies are being shaped and negotiated. It zooms in on parenting as a central governmental domain where concerns about, and hopes for, the future of society intersect with notions of citizenship, family care, welfare, and deservingness of public resources. In this introduction to the special issue, we draw out three paradoxical orders that shape the encounters between migrant parents and welfare actors we have studied. One is concerned with the tension between the universal and difference, the other with the re-articulation of the public and the private, and a third with irreconcilable social and institutional demands. This helps us understand how Europe's diverse societies are being shaped on the ground, beyond the often strongly racialized, nationalist rhetoric that has come to dominate public debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Work / Praca Socjalna is the property of Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej im Marii Grzegorzewskiej and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

During the summer of 2016, in the midst of one of the biggest refugee crises in centuries, the author of this article joined the team from a shelter for unaccompanied refugee minors on Samos, Greece, in an effort to provide young boys seeking asylum in Europe with an opportunity to engage in speaking about the difficulties they have encountered in life. The team used a collective narrative methodology called the “Tree of Life”, originally developed by Ncube-Mlilo and Denborough. In addition to traditional psychological treatments, collective narrative practice creates a secure foundation for addressing trauma, suffering, and hardship. This approach takes into consideration cultural differences and is easy to access for refugees with perceived stigma of traditional mental health services. The Tree of Life is a minimum of 8-hour workshop involving a strength-based narrative methodology, using the tree as a metaphor. This enables participants to share and develop enriching stories about their lives, which are rooted in their cultural and social histories. The workshop conducted on Samos proved to be an effective way to invite young unaccompanied minors to speak about their difficulties in ways that were not retraumatizing, but instead made them stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops the concept of infrastructuring the social by analyzing the uses of local community work in Danish marginalized residential areas. Infrastructuring the social is a concept to describe how spaces are designated as problematic and marginalized and then remade through the creation and materialization of normative and instrumental relations. The article empirically demonstrates how infrastructuring the social works through enacting relations between residents, local community workers and professionals from municipalities, relations which are used to move people along normative trajectories. These trajectories are meant to transport people out of problematic areas, and into closer contact with “regular society,” such as Danish institutions, education, and the labor market. Infrastructuring the social is thus enacted from the outside in, imbued with the normative imperatives of the welfare state, seeking to rework the agency of residents and improve the marginalized residential area. The concept of infrastructuring the social nuances the trope of the “network” by highlighting the normative imperatives embedded in making relations, and goes beyond frameworks of governmentality by highlighting the practical messiness and on-going work of everyday governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Societas et Res Publica is the property of University of SS. Cyril & Methodius in Trnava, Faculty of Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The authors deals with the social work concept of Mobile Youth Work strives for inclusion and consists of Street Work, Case Work, Group Work and Community Work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]