The multi-local residency of children seen through case descriptions of Finnish child welfare social workers

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe organisation of the daily lives of children encountered in Finnish child welfare work is approached here in the light of multi-local residency. Conceptually the focus will be on children’s residential changes or moves. It is an explorative pilot study in the context of municipal in-home child welfare social work, attempting to establish the existence of the phenomenon. The data consist of case descriptions of child clients drawn up by social workers. The data are analysed by the causes and the nature of the residential changes. As a result, the multiple changes and their accumulation in the lives of the child clients of child welfare are remarkable. In-home child welfare interventions themselves also produce children’s multi-local residency. Gathering the research data and discussing the results were a momentous experience for many of the social workers. Home-based child welfare work rarely examines the child’s housing history as a lifelong continuum. More often, the focus is on the current moment or recent events. Mapping a geography of well-being on the basis of children’s housing and relationships to places deserves elaboration as a tool for social work with children.