Professionals’ account-making of institutional care for youths. Intertwined discretionary spaces and blurred collaborative practice

In this article, the account-making of social workers and institutional care staff on locked institutional care for youth is analysed, based on empirical material consisting of 10 interviews with 25 members of the two professions. The study departs from a Swedish context where locked institutional care for youth is mainly provided for individuals who are in compulsory care due to criminality, drug abuse, or other socially destructive behaviour. The analytical framework draws on account theory and Emerson’s concept of institutional care as a ‘last resort’. The results show that both social workers and staff use similar justifications and excuses, relating to organizational resources and rules and to assessments and decisions made by the other professional group; but also, that different layers of accounts overlap between professionals’ account-making stories and can change as care proceeds. The results are discussed in relation to the pooled discretion that is exercised when different professional groups are involved in care decisions, and the organizationally specialized care setting resulting in intertwined discretionary spaces and blurred practice, with consequences for the quality of care and challenges in holding professionals accountable.