The Usefulness of Reintegration Support: The Dual Perspectives of Returnees and Caseworkers

Abstract

Many European countries have developed assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) programmes to support the return and reintegration of migrants who do not have a legal residence permit. There is substantial involvement of social-care professionals in the implementation of these programmes. However, the contested nature of AVRR programmes has limited an in-depth understanding of the exact nature of reintegration support and the ways it affects migrants’ lives after return. Through exploring the usefulness of AVRR support from the perspectives of those receiving it and experienced caseworkers providing it in the context of the Belgian AVRR return programme to Armenia and Georgia, this article contributes to a better understanding of the possibilities and constraints of reintegration support. Based on interviews with seventy-nine returnees during the initial two years after their return, interviews with the caseworkers and observations of day-to-day interactions between both parties, four different understandings of the ‘usefulness’ of reintegration support are delineated: reintegration support (i) as central and necessary financial support; (ii) as insufficient, decontextualised and deceptive support; (iii) as selective support; and lastly (iv) as humane and negotiated support. These understandings then evoke reflections on the implications for those stakeholders developing or implementing AVRR support programmes.

Trace Elements and Graphite Shape Degeneracy in Nodular Graphite Cast Irons

“…55 Sulfur also is such an element known to increase the amount of pearlite in malleable irons, 56 lamellar irons, 57 compacted and nodular irons. 58 Nakae 59 and Ying Zou 60 demonstrated that a S-free lamellar cast iron is fully ferritic when a common lamellar iron would be nearly fully pearlitic for the same casting conditions. Assuming S adsorbs preferentially on basal planes in solid state as concluded for solidification, this would mean it hinders the formation of new graphite steps on top of the existing basal planes, thus hindering the development of new prismatic faces where carbon atoms could reach graphite precipitates.…”

Migrants’ Post‐Return Wellbeing: A View From the Caucasus

“…Moreover, given the diverging interests and priorities involved in assisted return (Lietaert, 2019), an open category of post-return well-being might also provide an interesting discursive tool to scrutinize post-return situations (Atkinson and Joyce, 2011). On the micro-level, discussions and negotiation between returnees and counsellors on how individual reintegration assistance can be mobilized to contribute to post-return well-being might be a promising avenue to truly realize the "tailor-made" approach these programmes aim for.…”

“…On the micro‐level, discussions and negotiation between returnees and counsellors on how individual reintegration assistance can be mobilized to contribute to post‐return well‐being might be a promising avenue to truly realize the “tailor‐made” approach these programmes aim for. This, however, requires sufficient flexibility to be built into these programmes to enable adaption of the support to specific contexts, needs and priorities (Kuschminder, 2017b; Lietaert, 2019). On the policy level, Atkinson and Joyce (2011) argue that discussions on the content and meaning of well‐being as valuable, as it stimulates critical debate about the nature of overarching policy goals, such as reintegration, and enables strategies to be negotiated and reconciled locally.…”

“…The respondents of this study were selected through purposive sampling (Neuman, 2006): all Armenian and Georgian migrants returning with the support from the Belgian NGO Caritas International, one of the reintegration providers in the Belgian return programme, within the research period (January 2010-May 2012) were invited to participate in the study at a meeting prior to their return. Through the programme, people received organisational (i.e., travel documents and flight ticket), financial (i.e., in-kind reintegration budget ranging from €700 to €2700 euro for a person returning single) and reintegration support (i.e., pre-return counselling and counselling on the use of the reintegration budget after return) (for more detailed information on the Belgian assisted return programme, see Lietaert et al, 2017b;Lietaert, 2019;Vandevoordt, 2017).…”

Talking across Borders: Successful Re‐entry in Different Strands of Re‐entry Literature

“…However, the highly influential context of return is also missing for this group, as well as any focus on reducing differences between returnees and those who stayed. This results in a strong individualizing approach to the complex social issue of reintegration for this group, which alleviates the state's responsibility for addressing structural barriers (Sinatti, ) and, accordingly, depoliticizes the problems faced by these returnees (Lietaert, ).…”