Walks, Home Visits and Atmospheres: Risk and the Everyday Practices and Mobilities of Social Work and Child Protection

TLDR

Research on social work practice has largely focused on organizational systems and inter‑professional communication, leaving the lived experiences of practitioners beyond the office largely unexamined. The paper argues that social work should be understood through the bodily movements—walks and other mobilities—performed on streets and in homes, as these shape the work’s atmosphere and practice. The study applies the mobilities framework and draws on the author’s research into social workers’ past and present experiences of practice. The analysis reveals practice risks—whether professionals adequately observe, engage with, and safeguard children during home visits and other settings—highlighting the importance of bodily presence for good practice.

Abstract

Research into social work practice and inquiries into cases in which practitioners are deemed to have failed to protect children and vulnerable adults are predominantly focused on examining and changing organisational systems and inter-professional communication. This leaves largely unaddressed practitioners' experiences of the work they have to do that goes on beyond the office, on the street and in doing the home visit. In providing such an analysis, the paper argues that we need to think about social work in terms of the walks and other bodily movements that are required on the streets and in the homes of service users and evoke the adventures and atmospheres that deeply influence how the work is carried out. The paper draws theoretically on the new 'mobilities' approach and on my research into social workers' experiences of doing the work, past and present. Analysis of the mobile, lived experience of practice enables deeper understandings of risk to emerge—what I call practice risks—which concern whether professionals meet the requirements of good practice by looking around homes, walking towards children to properly see, touch, hear and walk with them to ensure they are fully engaged with and safe, here and now, on this home visit, or in this clinic or hospital ward.