According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) (2024) by the end of June 2023, the number of people fleeing war, famine, and persecution was 110 million. Of these, it is estimated that around forty-one percent were under the age of eighteen, and separately around fifteen percent were classed as having a disability (UNHCR, 2023). The UNHCR (2023) estimated that by the end of 2023 the number of people fleeing war, famine and persecution will rise to 117.2 million. Given the numbers, it is certain that children seeking sanctuary who also have a disability make up a proportion of this group (Bešić, Paleczek and Gasteiger-Klicpera, 2020). 

Although research on refugee and asylum-seeking families has been increasing, for those families who have children with disabilities, at global and European levels and within the context of the UK, the research remains scarce (Arfa et al., 2020; Dew, 2021). For families in England who have a child with special educational needs and disability, since 2014, the landscape of special educational needs and disability (SEND) has been dominated by the statutory framing of the SEND Code of Practice (DfE and DoH, 2015). Despite the level of importance that families have within this framework, little is known about how the paradigm of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) is considered by refugee and asylum-seeking families of sanctuary (Jørgensen et al., 2021). Nor do we as yet fully understand how their contexts and backgrounds influence their experiences and their levels of agency and empowerment when participating in discussions, making important decisions, and generally navigating the education system with a child who has or potentially has a diagnosis which could lead to a label of SEND.  

Knowles and Holmstrom (2013) state that as a society, we cannot function without the knowledge that the families possess. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of, and the challenges faced by refugee and asylum-seeking families when navigating the SEND and education systems in England. In order to answer this aim, the questions were asked, ’how refugee and asylum-seeking families experience entering and thriving within the education system in England with a SEN/D child? What were their support mechanisms and what were the barriers experienced? To support the analysis of the voices, Bourdieu’s (1996) concepts of theory of practice and habitus, capital, field and doxa were also used as an underpinning framework for agency and voice within a dominant space of vulnerability and disempowerment.  Bourdieu’s theoretical framing was a useful mechanism by which to explore the ways sanctuary seekers are encouraged to embody the constructed images imposed upon them, such as being vulnerable within life's multiple and competing spaces. This highlighted the taken-for-granted social practice of the professionals tasked to support these families which is only revealed when one is exposed to another way of thinking (Bourdieu, 1998, p. 57). 

The research centred on the experiences of eight parents who have successfully sought sanctuary in England and who have children with a diagnosis which led to a label of SEND being given. I interviewed seven mothers and one father, all of whom were established residents with a right to remain within the UK. To capture the experiences and stories of the families, a methodological approach that centred the voice of the participants was needed. This approach moved away from the traditional understanding of the lived experience of families seeking sanctuary, predominantly represented through third-party research with advocacy groups, refugee networks and politicians (O’Neill and Harindranath, 2006). Existing research surrounding refugee and asylum-seeking families exposes the issue that this group faces multiple, intersecting, and complex issues (Turtiainen, 2012). The challenges encountered are unique to each individual and family, and as such, the voice of the refugee cannot be understood as a singular united voice, but as multiple voices each with individual stories (Turtiainen, 2012; Kassam et al., 2020). Within this study, the position assumed is that the families not only speak for themselves but are the experts in their own lives and in response to this framing, an episodic narrative approach was taken. The episodic narrative as a method refers to a series of questions which are loosely connected around an episode or incident. Each episode can be questioned in isolation whilst still contributing to the overall narrative of the individual or family. The structure of the episodic narrative enabled the participants to recount those early and often complex experiences. While the open-ended questions followed the narrative approach, the bounded framework of the questioning and the funnelling of the dialogue reduced cognitive load for the participant (Mueller, 2019). The data from the episodic narrative interview was then analysed firstly through a semantically led thematic analysis, centralising the words and phrases used by the participants, and then explored further through a Bourdieusian framework, employing the concepts of capital, habitus, field and doxa.  The framework provided by Bourdieu enabled a contextualisation of abstract concepts, resulting in a deeper analysis which made possible a greater understanding of how participant responses were composed within the differing spaces such as family, community, and school.

The analysis found that although there were many commonalities of experience among the participants, the collective experiences were layered multiple times due to their differing intersectional labels of identity. The research also demonstrated the homogenisation felt and experienced by some of the families, whereby their status as a refugee or asylum seeker defined approaches and support given to families. Drawing on Bourdieu to further analyse their narratives demonstrated that tensions arose when establish habitus around cultural framing(s) of disability was challenged and awareness of new framings of disability was formed. Also, to challenge the common deficit portrayal of sanctuary seekers, this study also showed how their levels of capital changed within the multiple fields they inhabited through their connections with different community spaces.   This research contributes to the existing knowledge base by the use of episodic narratives which enabled a deeper understanding around the construction of experiences for the families of sanctuary who took part in this research. Their voices revealed challenges and barriers within both systems of disability and sanctuary, but also, importantly resilience and aspiration. From this research, recommendations are made regarding changes to practice and to the wider research around sanctuary and disability in England to enable more positive outcomes for this population.  

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