Working in the 'system' and 'lifeworld': using action research to enhance resilience and attachment in a children's home

Residential child-care workers in the United Kingdom are caught between competing imperatives on a grand scale. On the one hand, they are required to implement an increasing raft of policy, procedure and guidance in relation to safeguarding the welfare of young people looked after by the State. This forms the 'top down' domain of the formal system within which residential care is placed. On the other, they must proactively engage with the young people under their care, develop relationships with them, meet their needs and be sensitive to the daily challenges arising from the group context. This is the existential domain of 'lived' and shared meaning, of expressed need, of emotional pain but also of social connection and inter-personal recognition. I refer to this experiential area as the 'lifeworld' of the young people.