We can connect: Imagining the future of digital practice with and by care-experienced children and young people

Abstract

A participatory study with care-experienced children and young people identified longstanding problems in social work with children and recommended service improvements. The authors reflected on a digital resource co-created by this study and speculated on future digital adaptations that might address some of the service development needs that children and young people identified. This was inspired by Haraway’s (1985) call to imagine cyborgification in order to break from dominant thinking while being cautious of how power operates in human-machine conjunctures. The imagined digital adaptations focus on connecting to people and places, leisure, education, accommodation, journey planning through care and systems accountability. Imagining cyborgification highlighted how digital adaptations are embedded in, and not a substitute for, trusting relationships. Adaptations must be co-developed by intergenerational groups of children and professionals. Bourdieu’s (1985, 1986) notions of habitus, field and capitals could guide theoretically informed feasibility testing, drawing attention to distributions of resources. Key questions relate to: When can digital adaptations challenge the dominant habits and politics of social care, strengthen deep relationships and secure social, cultural and economic capital in the hands of young experts and their adult allies, so that systems can redress inequalities and promote accountability?