Social worker home visits
to children and families:
messages from our
research
Dr. Karen Winter and Dr. Campbell Killick
Purpose
 Background
 Research process
 Findings
 Use of findings
Background
 The social worker home visit
 What we know and we don’t know
 What do we need to know more about?
 Why do we need to know?
Research process
 Communication
 Collaboration
 Considered proposal
 Content
Findings
 Pre –visit
 During the home visit
 Post home visit
Pre - visit
 Car as reflective space
 Car as preparation
 Car as vehicle to make connections between thoughts,
feelings and intended actions
Context
 Normalising Northern Ireland
 Overwhelmed by the macro
 Underwhelmed by the micro
Communication
 Underwhelmed by the micro
 Communication reduced to a checklist
 Focuses on the tangible/scientific – I saw, I spoke, I
sought
 Omits the humane - touch, laughter, holding
 Omits quality, significance
Misconnections
 Knowledge about children
 Attitudes about and towards children
 Demands of the job – bureaucratic versus relational
 Risk to child and to self
The relationship
We are guardians and custodians of the stories children
tell us and the aspects of their lives they choose to share
with us. This process of the oral translation of information
from the child to the social worker and back again is a
significant aspect to children’s identity formation. We
move on into other jobs and roles taking those fragments
of the child’s story with us. There is no room, no space
and no permission for us to be part of that ongoing process
of identity formation which begins with the basic
conversation ‘I remember when you..’ We have to ask
ourselves whether what we do now is the best way to help
children form meaningful relationships, help them recover
their shattered sense of identity and to re-establish their
inner core’.
Use of findings
 Audit
 Materials
 Training
 Role of senior practitioner