Politicising Social Work with Undocumented Families

Our ongoing research on trajectories of families without legal residence (Debruyne et al., 2024; 2024; 2024), along with the ATLAS study on access to housing and social infrastructure for people with precarious residence status in Brussels (Groeninck et al., 2024), highlights a pressing need to map and facilitate political interventions for this target group. Firstly, our research reveals a diversity of trajectories among undocumented individuals, depending on their residence status and migration pathway. The path toward a sustainable solution for undocumented EU citizens differs significantly from that of undocumented third-country nationals, with further distinctions within the latter group. Secondly, both social support and institutional policy structures play a crucial role in shaping these trajectories and how they are experienced. In practice, there are stark differences between social work approaches focused on shelter and those oriented toward future planning. Future orientation is not a one-size-fits-all methodology imposed on all undocumented individuals. Instead, the rich field of practice reveals a broad spectrum of social interventions that go beyond legal support for obtaining residence permits. These also include pedagogical and political dimensions—each with specific implications for both service users and frontline social workers. Notably, politicising interventions represent only a small minority of the actions social workers undertake in these contexts.

In summary, these insights bring to light the need for tailored approaches and more layered, diverse political intervention strategies. This research proposal on politicising social work with undocumented families builds on ongoing studies that map the everyday realities of these families and the experiences of frontline social workers (at the micro and meso levels). It aims to elevate these insights by focusing on supporting political interventions that can drive change at the meso and macro levels.

Social work practices for and with people without legal residence

Social work practices for and with people without legal residence are not new. Over time, they have taken shape through the efforts of many volunteer initiatives. Following sustained lobbying by local authorities and social work organisations, these practices were institutionally recognised by the Vivaldi government as “pilot projects for people without legal residence.” However, the resources provided remain limited, and organisations must operate within a complex web of migration legislation across multiple policy levels (see our opinion piece in De Standaard: "The new return policy: Kafka without papers," Debruyne, Van Dam, & Van Acker, 2024; Debruyne, 2002 in "Panopticon"). Most shelter and orientation practices that do vital work on the ground still rely largely on their own resources.

These organisations are seeking strategies to ensure both sustainability and political impact. This research, which focuses on politicising social work with and for undocumented people, was initiated explicitly at their request. The Arizona coalition agreement also states that the pilot projects for undocumented people will be evaluated, along with the newly established ICAM coaches from the new “Alternatives to Detention” department within the Immigration Office (DVZ). This research project—including mapping and action research (see later in this proposal)—can contribute to those planned evaluations.

Politicising Social Work

Since the 2018 Social Work Conference, politicising social work has been one of the five core principles of the profession. Much has been written since about the political mandate of social work. Both in practice and in academic research on political action (Naert, Debruyne et al., 2023; Debruyne & Van Bouchaute, 2013, Grymonprez & Debruyne, 2018), concepts and strategies have been explored. “Social work has a political mandate,” it is often said, and to fulfill it, practitioners can draw on a range of tools:

1. Discretionary space for action
2. Policy-oriented practices, such as advocacy or signalling
3. Politicisation

Politicisation is one specific strategy that involves making social issues and real needs—often invisible or unheard—public, in order to challenge unjust situations. In this proposal, we distinguish between political interventions as an overarching term and politicisation as one possible strategy within that framework.

The ways in which this “going public” manifests—drawing on the book Going Public! The Many Forms of Politicisation in Social Work (De Corte et al., 2022)—can vary widely: from exhibitions or theatre performances to demonstrations, occupations of public institutions, or creative actions. While both literature and practice underscore the importance of political and politicising work, conversations with lecturers and frontline social workers reveal that politicising is often seen as one of the most challenging competencies (see added value for universities and society). There is a clear need for richly illustrated case material, practical tools, and skill development to support social workers in fulfilling their political mandate.

Politicising Work with Undocumented Families

This proposal focuses specifically on undocumented families. This group often lives far from the public eye, in deep social and legal precarity—what academic literature refers to as “non-citizens” or “denizens” (Turner, 2016). For them, “going public” is far from straightforward. Focusing on politicising work with this group is both innovative and necessary, as existing frameworks for political action in social work are largely based on assumptions of formal citizenship and access to social rights. These frameworks typically target the welfare state as the main interlocutor, which does not align with the lived realities of undocumented people (Debruyne & Grymonprez, 2024). Migration puts pressure on these premises because the pathways to full citizenship for people without legal residence from below are fundamentally different from those of vulnerable citizens whose circumstances require them to use the social safety nets of the welfare state.

Importantly, politicising work with undocumented families does not occur in an institutional vacuum. On the contrary, social work practices focused on shelter and future orientation are embedded in a multi-scalar policy reality:

• Local level: Cities and municipalities can play a pioneering role in establishing and sustaining experimental and socially innovative practices. For example, the women’s shelters (“4B houses”) of vzw EHVV in Ghent were eventually funded by Fedasil after extensive lobbying. Under Fedasil’s coordination and with support from ORBIT vzw, similar projects have since been launched in Antwerp, Bruges, and Ostend. Even non-governmental initiatives, such as Pigment vzw’s shelter and orientation project in Brussels, must navigate local policy frameworks.
• National/federal level: Key actors include the Immigration Office (DVZ), the cabinet of the Minister for Asylum and Migration, the Federal Ombudsman, and the Council for Alien Law Litigation (RVV). These institutions define the legal boundaries and rules of migration policy, which can involve forced return or support for future planning.
• Transnational level: Many social work practices with people in precarious residence situations also adopt transnational political strategies. For instance, JRS Belgium integrates its local work under the “Plan Together” initiative within the International Detention Coalition (IDC). However, our ongoing research shows that social work practices vary significantly in how politically active they are across these different levels.

This project investigates how social work practices for undocumented families engage with policymakers and policy levels (local, regional, national, and transnational) to sustain and/or scale up micro-level practices. We do this through:

1. Mapping political strategies used by social work practices
2. Action research with four specific practices, exploring how to design and support effective political strategies
3. Training (aspiring) social workers and policymakers in (successful) politicising work with undocumented people and, by extension, other groups with precarious residence status

• EHVV vzw (Een Hart voor Vluchtelingen vzw) (Ghent)
• Pigment asbl (Brussels)
• Orbit NPO & PICUM (Brussels)
• JRS Belgium (Brussels)