The social worker on Friday reported no symptoms of the coronavirus now present in all 50 U.S. The social worker asked the girl to step outside of the house and stayed the recommended 6 feet (1.8 m) away from her while they spoke.įour days later, the state changed its rules to allow some visits with foster kids to be conducted by video message rather than an in-person visit. An Oregon caseworker who spoke on condition of anonymity said she visited a foster child in her care on Monday to discover that the girl was coughing and had been ill. The changes are not always coming fast enough. Social workers and union officials representing them in states including New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois and Oregon said they are pushing their agencies to adapt at a time when entering a stranger’s home could expose them to a serious and sometimes deadly illness. It means other things are going on and other needs are. An untidy and unclean home is usually an indication of risk, rather than a risk in itself. When a social worker comes to me citing home conditions as their main or only concern, I usually like to go and have a look myself. This article explores how school social workers’ roles, responsibilities, and work tasks shifted during spring 2020 distance learning to address the continuing and changing. Judging the cleanliness of someone’s home is deeply subjective. They are both engaged in extensive collaborative research for local authorities with a particular interest in home visits.FILE PHOTO: A playground at Ruskin Elementary School sits empty ahead of the statewide school closures in Ohio in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, inside Dayton, Ohio, U.S., March 13, 2020. The COVID-19 global pandemic led to the unprecedented shuttering of nearly all K12 public education settings across the United States from March through June 2020. Karen Broadhurst is a lecturer in applied social science at Lancaster University Chris Hall is a reader in social work at University of Durham. Workers should share these feelings in supervision and reflect on how their own emotional response affects observations and how often they visit. For example, it can come as a relief to the social worker if difficult families are not home when they call or they may avoid asking challenging questions of the family. It is imperative that, where workers are uncertain, they make space for further visits and resist hasty categorisations such as “no further action”.Ĭritical reflection This and an awareness of one’s own emotional responses to home visits are vital. One-off visits will provide only a very crude picture of the family. Where a family is known to be hostile, joint visits are recommended. Safe working policies About one-third of families can be hostile and resistant. Collecting and recording information is part of, but not an end point, in assessment, and observations should be pieced together through supervision and careful reflection on the case.įrequency of visits These should be matched to levels of risk and subject to revision if a family’s situation deteriorates. It is essential that social workers feel equipped to carry out home visits, which require a range of skills to cope with the tensions inherent in entering the private world of the family. Yet, in many areas of practice, the majority of client contact is in the field, which typically means seeing a client someplace other than your office. Changes in the family’s circumstances should be observed, including home conditions, household composition and changes in children’s appearance and behaviour, as well as their interactions with the parents. When first starting out, making a home visit to see a client can be an intimidating and even frightening experience for social workers. Observing the family’s behaviour and circumstances Preparation for home visits should include reading up on the case history. The use of a genogram can provide an excellent starting point and can establish household composition. Families need to know what to expect when a worker visits, particularly if the worker intends to see family bedrooms, examine the condition of the kitchen or make unannounced visits. Honest and open engagement with families From the outset, this is vital to build strong relationships. Mechanisms should be in place if social workers fail to return when expected. Social workers should carry mobile phones and report their whereabouts to managers. Safe working policies About one-third of families can be hostile and resistant. 24 social workers took part, with 87 practice encounters, of which 71 were home visits. It is essential that social workers feel equipped to carry out home visits, which require a range of skills to cope with the tensions inherent in entering the private world of the family. Academics Karen Broadhurst and Chris Hall continue our regular series of practice guidance by looking at home visits in children’s social workĪlthough there is evidence that social work has become more office-based, home visiting remains a central part of practice with children and families.
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