Paper short abstract:

Since the 1990s many Roma families have migrated to the UK from the Czech Republic. This paper addresses the complexity and dynamics of the communication and interaction between service providers working with Roma families and Roma immigrants in England.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on Czech Roma immigrants in England and their interaction with service providers, with an emphasis on services aimed at families and children. Czech Roma have been migrating to the UK since the 1990s and some local authorities now have services designed specifically to work with Eastern European Roma. These services offer help with getting children into schools, benefit applications and with housing issues. Yet, as various services are designed according to the values of the providers and the perceived needs of the Roma, their effectiveness is limited. In this paper I examine the complexity and dynamics of the communication and interaction between service providers and the Roma. The Roma and service providers differ not only in their perception of correct parenting, family structure or health and illness, but also in their understanding of available opportunities. The opportunities and possibilities that people perceive they have in life depend on the ways of being that they can imagine. The conditions the Roma have experienced are so different from the lived experience of the service providers that it is difficult for the service providers to comprehend them. Therefore, personal circumstances are interpreted in terms of personal decisions, achievements, failures and moral values, rather than being placed within a wider structural and social context. These become overlooked and disconnected from the circumstances of families that the service providers deal with.

NOTE: This paper is based on work in progress and while it uses insights gained from personal experience, fieldwork is yet to be conducted (planned to start in autumn 2012).