Being at risk: the troublesome relationship between policy and family life

In this symposium we will shed light upon the troublesome relationship between policy agendas on risk prevention and intervention and family life. In recent years, research on families and children has pointed to the importance of early prevention, leading to an increased emphasis on predicting risks even before they arise (Lee et al. 2014). ‘Families at risk’ are often targeted with diverse policies and management attempts to frame how they should tackle structural and systemic issues, and reduce the potential for risk and vulnerability in their own lives before these conditions arise or escalate. At the same time, families live their everyday lives within frames formed by different logics and conditions, and crises and risks often appear in unpredictable ways. Based on sociological, pedagogical, and multidisciplinary approaches, the symposium will pose the following key questions: How do families experience their everyday meetings with professionals and institutions when they have already faced those ‘risks’ everyone seeks to prevent? How do they (re)act themselves ?