The Unheld Child
Social Work, Social Distancing and the Possibilities and Limits to Child Protection during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10896641 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Harry Ferguson (0000-0002-7191-6353, University of Birmingham, corresponding author), Sarah Pink (0000-0003-0073-8382, Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash University , Melbourne, Australia), Laura Kelly (0000-0003-1454-9240, University of Birmingham) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 2403-2421 |
| Publication date | 2022-06-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal of Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0045-3102 • E-ISSN: 1468-263X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjsw/bcac055 |
| OpenAlex | W4226378063 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 28 |
The COVID-19 pandemic changed dramatically the ways social workers engaged with children and families. This article presents findings from our research into the effects of COVID-19 on social work and child protection in England during the first nine months of the pandemic. Our aim is to provide new knowledge to enable realistic expectations of what it was possible for social workers to achieve and particularly the limits to child protection. Such perspective has become more important than ever due to knowledge of children who died tragically from abuse despite social work involvement during the pandemic. Our research findings show how some practitioners got physically close to some children, whilst being distanced from others. We examine the dynamics that shaped closeness and distance and identify seven influences that created limits to child protection and the problem of ‘the unheld child’. The article provides new understandings of child protection as embodied, multi-sensorial practices and the ways anxiety and experiences of bodily self-alienation limit practitioners’ capacities to think about and get close to children. Whilst social workers creatively improvised to achieve their goals, coronavirus and social distancing imposed limits to child protection that no amount of innovative practice could overcome in all cases
Alienation · Child protection · Closeness · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Distancing · Pandemic · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Social distance · Sociology · Work (physics) · Child Abuse and Trauma · Engineering · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work
An opinion
Producing space through social work
Embodied practice in a disembodied time
What Knowledge and Skills Do Early Career Social Workers Need to Practice Effectively With Children and Families
Safe Staffing and Workload Management in Social Work
Digital Technology in Children’s Safeguarding Social Work Practice in the 21st Century
Ontological (In)security in Early Career Social Work during Covid-19
Children’s Social Work Safe Staffing Supply and Workforce Demands Analysis
Older people’s social work safe staffing supply and workforce demands analysis
Spatial–temporal enactments of home-schooling among low-income families of primary-aged children
Child Protection Practice
Making home visits
How social workers reflect in action and when and why they don’t
The reflective practitioner
Covid-19, social distancing and the ‘scientisation’ of touch
Digital social work
Social work and child protection for a post-pandemic world
Hostile relationships in social work practice
Relationship-based practice and the creation of therapeutic change in long-term work
Social Work and the Body
Responses to Covid-19 in Major Social Work Journals
The team as a secure base revisited
Virtual Home Visits during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long‐term casework
Investigating the Sense of Smell and Its Relevance to Embodied Social Work Practice
Atmospheres, spaces and job crafting
Exploring Communication between Social Workers, Children and Young People
Researching Social Work Practice Close Up
Social Workers’ Sensual Bodies during Covid-19
How Children Become Invisible in Child Protection Work
Seeing the Child' beyond the Literal
Doing Sensory Ethnography
The Ritual Process
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |