A Genealogy of ‘Future Orientation’: Re‐Inventing Social Work in an Era of Welfare State Bordering

ABSTRACT In a context of the post‐welfare state and increasing welfare state bordering, social work with migrants that are ‘illegalised’ by the state serves as an exemplary site where the space for political, human rights‐based approaches to social work is shrinking dramatically. This article adopts a Foucault‐inspired genealogical approach to excavate the contentious history of one such practice that is currently gaining traction in Belgium: future orientation. While future orientation (FO) generally refers to a holistic form of psycho‐social and socio‐legal support that seeks to orient illegalised migrants towards different future scenarios, there are multiple, contradictory views on what FO is, how it functions, and what purpose it serves. We inquire into this by drawing on qualitative data from three research projects, dividing the history of FO into four periods. We contend that while future orientation is currently finding its way into mainstream policy practice, this comes at the cost of marginalising other, more consciously political, collective, rights‐based, and migrant‐centred modes of social work.