ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 pandemic presented social workers and managers in child protection with complex practical and moral dilemmas about how to respond to children and families while social distancing. This paper draws on our research into practice during the pandemic to show some of the ways social workers changed their practice and to provide theories and concepts that can help to account for how such change occurs. Drawing on anthropological uses of the concepts of ‘contingency’ and ‘improvisation’ and Hartmut Rosa’s sociological work on ‘adaptive transformation’ and ‘resonance’ we show how social workers creatively ‘re-made’ key aspects of their practice, by recognising inequalities and providing material help, through digital casework, movement and walking encounters, and by going into homes and taking risks by getting close to children and parents. It is vital that such improvisation and remaking are learned from and sustained post-pandemic as this can renew practice and enable social workers to better enhance the lives of service users.

摘要

Covid-19 大流行给儿童保护领域的社会工作者和管理人员带来了复杂的实际和道德困境，即如何在保持社交距离的同时应对儿童和家庭。本文利用我们在大流行期间对实践的研究，展示社会工作者改变实践的一些方式，并提供有助于解释这种变化如何发生的理论和概念。借鉴人类学对“偶然性”和“即兴创作”概念的使用以及哈特穆特·罗莎（Hartmut Rosa）关于“适应性转变”和“共鸣”的社会学工作，我们展示了社会工作者如何创造性地“重塑”他们实践的关键方面，通过认识到不平等和提供物质帮助，通过数字案例工作、移动和步行遭遇，以及进入家庭并通过接近儿童和父母来承担风险。