Performing child protection: home visiting, movement and the struggle to reach the abused child

Abstract

A B S T R AC TSocial work and child protection literature, policy and practice discussions largely ignore the core experience of doing the work. Little attention is given to where it is performed, and in particular, the practice of home visiting and the emotions and challenges of accessing children it gives rise to. Although it is the methodology through which most child protection goes on, the home visit is virtually ignored, as the emphasis in policy and practice texts is increasingly on what happens in the office, at the computer and in inter-agency collaboration. Examining scenes from home visiting practices and child death inquiry reports -Baby Peter, Victoria Climbié and Jasmine Beckford -the paper identifies the core problem of contemporary child protection as being social workers (and other professionals) not moving in rooms or around houses to meaningfully engage with, touch or examine children. Analysing practice through the sociology of 'mobilities' and psychodynamic social work theory, the paper provides new ways of understanding social work experience as forms of embodied movement. It uses the concept of 'containment' to suggest ways in which practitioners can be supported to use their bodies to move more and better in performing child protection to the benefit of children, other service users and themselves.

Exploring Communication between Social Workers, Children and Young People

“…At the time of writing, and with the notable exception of work by Ferguson (2009Ferguson ( , 2016 and Broadhurst and Mason (2014) there is little social work research on the 'real world' of the social worker visit, whether to the family home or anywhere else.…”

Barn som far illa i sin hemmiljö — BVC-sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att möta och hjälpa barnen

“…BVC-sjukskö-terskorna kan uppleva chock, trauman, ledsamhet samt skrämmande känslor (8,13,17,18). Lundéns studie (7) visade att BVC-sjuksköter-skor anser att sju till tio procent av förskolebarnen far illa.…”

“…Detta menade Lundén kan leda till att barnets situation bagatelliseras med en risk för underrapportering till socialtjänsten. Hanterandet av de egna känslorna är därmed betydande för att inte tappa fokus på barnet (13,18). Vissa BVC-sjuksköterskor har inte självförtroendet eller förmågan att agera för de utsatta barnen (8).…”

Other People's Homes as Sites of Uncertainty: Ways of Knowing and Being Safe

“…However within the caring context an emergent academic literature on social work similarly discusses the home as a site for intervention and safety (e.g. Ferguson 2009). For instance, the social work scholar Ferguson has interpreted the home visit as a mobile practice, whereby UK social workers need to 'establish the safety and well-being of children, the needs of frail, unwell or vulnerable adults, and so on, which involves moving to and from the office and the service user's dwelling, journeying usually in a car'.…”