By Allison Hulmes, Social Work Academic and Co-founder of the Romani & Traveller Social Work Association
Last week, I delivered a presentation on the Reflection, Objective, Movement, and Action (ROMA) model – a framework for restorative and anti-racist supervision – to a group of social workers. As both a Romani social worker and academic, I brought together professional insight and lived experience to facilitate a space for critical reflection on anti-Gypsyism in our profession.
Despite framing the session around structural racism and encouraging participants to examine their own positionality and practice, I still encountered the familiar language of othering.
- “I’ve been threatened by Travellers lots of times.”
- “It’s impossible to get onto sites.”
- “The family sticks together.”
These statements weren’t delivered with open hostility. They weren’t intentionally hurtful. But that’s precisely what made them so powerful and dangerous. They were spoken without recognizing that such language reproduces deep-rooted stereotypes, reinforces bias, and subtly perpetuates the ‘othering’ of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.
Encouragingly, some in the room leaned into discomfort. They asked:
- “What if we’re part of the problem?”
- “I can see how our involvement makes these families feel unsafe.”
These moments of reflexivity offered glimpses of hope. But they also revealed how embedded anti-Gypsyism remains in professional discourse even in spaces explicitly designed to be anti-racist.
Aversive Racism in Social Work Practice
These interactions exemplify aversive racism, a concept discussed with Dr. Dan Allen in our 2021 paper: Allen, D., & Hulmes, A. (2021). ‘Aversive Racism and Child Protection Practice with Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Children and Families.’ Seen and Heard, 31(2).
Aversive racism happens when people believe they are anti-racist but unconsciously support racial bias and inequality through their actions, assumptions, and language. It is often subtle and expressed in professional language or good intentions.
In social work, aversive racism manifests in:
- Expecting Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families to conform to dominant cultural norms to be seen as “compliant”.
- Attributing non-engagement to cultural identity rather than to services that feel unsafe, discriminatory, or alienating
In that training room, these dynamics were not just theoretical; they were real, as they often are. And for those of us from Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities, they were painfully familiar and emotionally exhausting.
Where Are Our Values?
According to the International Federation of Social Workers (2014), social work is:
“A practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people.”
Values rooted in social justice, human rights, and respect for diversity are essential. However, when it comes to GRT communities, those core values are often overlooked, ignored in practice, watered down during training, or completely abandoned.
The Social Care Wales Code of Professional Practice (2017) obligates social workers to actively challenge discrimination. But how can professionals challenge what they don’t recognize? How can they oppose bias when anti-Gypsyism is so deeply embedded that it often goes unnoticed, even in spaces explicitly committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion?
It is increasingly clear that training alone cannot dismantle racism. Social work must shift toward critical reflection and reflexivity. We must ask not only what we do, but why and how we do it and how our actions are shaped by history, power, and privilege.
The ROMA model was created specifically for this purpose. It provides a structured, cyclical framework for restorative supervision that focuses on:
- Emotional awareness
- Clarity of purpose
- Ethical growth
- Culturally responsive action
It encourages practitioners to develop greater insight into their positioning, assumptions, and responsibilities and to act with cultural humility and courage.
When Social Work Fails to be Anti-Racist
If reading this evokes discomfort, I invite you to consider:
- In what ways does this challenge feel personal?
- Whose safety are we centring in social work spaces?
- Have you ever perceived cultural differences as a risk factor?
- When have you viewed Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller families through a lens of deficit rather than strength?
If social work isn’t anti-racist, it doesn’t meet our legal, ethical, or professional obligations.
When the voices of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities are ignored even when we are present, it exposes social work’s deep-rooted, systemic racism.
The ROMA model gives us an opportunity to develop restorative, relational, and anti-racist social work practices. However, models, tools, and approaches only work when we use them with true intention. Being anti-racist in social work is not just about what we do; it’s about who we are willing to become. It begins with confronting our own biases, questioning our complicity, and recognizing that sometimes, we are the obstacle to genuine engagement. Not the families. Not their culture. Not the communities. Us.