Understanding the Experiences of Families of Radicalised Muslim Youth in Australia: Implications for Social Work Practice

This chapter explores the experience of the families of young Muslims who have radicalised to violence in relation to perceived discrimination against Australian Muslim youth. It does so through by drawing on case study material from the ‘Interviewing the Families of Young People who have joined or attempted to join violent conflict’ report (Gerrand and Grossman 2018), a study based on interviewing the families of Australian young people living in Melbourne, Victoria, who became involved in violent extremist conflict either overseas or at home. This is the first Australian research to date on the experiences of family members of foreign and domestic violent extremists. This case study presents social workers and other front-line service providers with an opportunity to understand how, from the perspectives of their families, young people have become involved in joining violent conflict and the impacts of their involvement upon family members. The research findings here have been used by the researchers’ community research partner, Victorian Arabic Social Services, to develop community-based support, education and awareness resources to support families in helping mitigate both young people’s involvement in violent extremist activity and the ability of families to access appropriate support and intervention in such circumstances.