Exploring the multifaceted role of social workers in Italy’s Reception and Integration System
Three scenarios from Tuscany
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6423747 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stella Milani (0000-0002-4799-3770, University of Florence, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 972-984 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-1457 • E-ISSN: 1468-2664 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13691457.2025.2480157 |
| OpenAlex | W4409124840 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
Research on social work with refugees has gained growing prominence in academic debate, highlighting challenges social workers face in contexts shaped by increasingly restrictive migration policies. Studies show ambivalent effects of these challenges on social work practices: while professionals report feelings of powerlessness and frustration, they also exhibit agency and advocacy. A distinction, often assumed but rarely examined, lies between social work practices in institutional settings and those in third-sector organisations, while local governance models show that boundaries between them vary in proximity and permeability. This article investigates the integration of professional social workers within Italy’s Reception and Integration System (SAI). Findings from an exploratory study conducted in Tuscany reveal three scenarios, each reflecting different ways of incorporating social workers in SAI projects: as employees of third-sector organisations; as employees of the local authority promoting the project; and as employees of local social services in the project area. This analysis enables a critical reflection on professionals’ scope of action and, more broadly, on the integration between refugee reception and local social services. By acknowledging the multifaceted nature of social workers’ roles, this study highlights the need to contextualise structural limitations and opportunities for social interventions with refugees within reception governance
Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Gender Studies · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work
Anti-Oppressive Social Work Theory and Practice
Street-Level Bureaucracy
The Active Interview
Multilevel governance in trouble
Who Undermines the Welfare State? Austerity-Dogmatism and the U-Turn in Swedish Asylum Policy
Migration, solidarity and the limits of Europe
Social work with refugee and displaced populations in Europe
Resources reduction and welfare changes
Social Work, Immigration and Asylum
Between containment, confinement and dispersal
The Politics of Labeling Refugee Men as “Vulnerable”
The Ambivalent Familism of the Italian Welfare State
Southern European Welfare Regimes and the Worsening Position of Women
The Rise of Social Cooperatives in Italy
The ‘Lombardy Model’
We Do the Best We Can
An Unacceptable Role for Social Work
Migration Perspectives in Social Work Research
I Am in a Constant State of Insecurity Trying to Make Ends Meet, like Our Service Users’
Divergent Practices in Statutory and Voluntary-Sector Settings? Social Work with Asylum Seekers
Blurred Rights, Local Practices
Social Justice
Between differences and common features
Social work, exclusionary populism and xenophobia in Italy
The Emergence of New Street-Level Bureaucracies in Italy's Asylum Reception System
The Bearing of Empirical Research upon the Development of Social Theory
Compassion and Repression
Beyond Compassionate Aid
On Transversal Solidarity
Selecting Cases for Intensive Analysis
Everyday Bordering, Belonging and the Reorientation of British Immigration Legislation
Migrant "Illegality" and Deportability in Everyday Life
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |