Acta Sociologica, Ahead of Print.
Ethnic minority parents who are fearful of child welfare services (CWS) is an acknowledged social problem, but the existing academic understanding is limited. Interpretations in previous research have tended to highlight people’s ‘dispositions’, typically cultural backgrounds, and lack of knowledge, or ‘structures’ like welfare and penal systems. More neglected is how CWS fears can be generated from interactional processes within groups. Building on extensive ethnography with Norwegian Somalis, a marginalized migrant group, we extend the sociological understanding of ethnic minority parents’ CWS fears. Relying on an interactionist theoretical framework, we centre Erving Goffman’s interaction ritual (e.g., facework) and stigma, which we combine with Robert Putnam’s bonding social capital. From this vantage point, we construct a ‘bottom-up’ theoretical model highlighting transmission of child removal stories in tight-knit social networks. Among Norwegian Somalis, fears emanate from a social process with four interconnected factors: (A) adversities and ‘tribal stigma’; (B) bonding social capital, for coping and self-respect; (C) children as a ‘lifeline’. Together these generate (D) wide diffusion of child removal stories, which perpetuates pervasive CWS fears. This model should productively inform comparative research.