school social work home visits

How to undertake and record a home visit in social work

Tips for Making Home Visits in Child Welfare

By: Natalie D. Pope, PhD, LCSW, and Jennifer B. Hadden, MSW

When first starting out, making a home visit to see a client can be an intimidating and even frightening experience for social workers. 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. Certainly for social workers practicing in the field of public child welfare (e.g., child protective services, family preservation, foster care, adoption), visiting clients in their home is the norm, rather than the exception. 

    Many benefits exist to seeing clients in their homes, particularly when working in child welfare. First, as social workers, we give special attention to our clients’ environment and how this affects their functioning and well-being. Observing clients’ living situations (conditions of the home, safety concerns, status of neighborhood and community, and so forth) can provide valuable and relevant information for assessment and case planning. Second, working with clients in their homes enables the social worker to “meet the clients where they are” and to potentially reduce the power differential inherent in work with mandated clients. Third, interventions delivered in the home, rather than in an office, might be easier for clients to implement, since the home is where problems often occur. Finally, service barriers such as limited transportation and scheduling conflicts can be avoided with home-based services (Collins, Jordan, & Coleman, 2010).         

     Despite the benefits of seeing clients in their homes, there are some inherent challenges and things to keep in mind when interviewing parents and children in their home.

Building Rapport to Get in the Door

    Upon first contact with a client, social workers are often met with some barriers. The worker’s ability to gain entry into the home is often indicative of resistance to or compliance with intervention. Here are some suggestions for a first meeting in a client’s home:

1. Knock with authority, but not in a threatening way. It should be audible, but not deafening. Sometimes you must knock a few times before the client will answer. Try to refrain from “peeking” in windows, unless you are concerned for the potential safety of children in the home after repeatedly unanswered knocks.

2. Introduce yourself using your first and last name, and agency representation. You may need to repeat your first name a few times to allow the client to identify you not only as an agency representative, but also a person. When possible, smile. You might say something like, “Our agency received a call from someone concerned about your children. I would like to discuss that concern with you.”

3. Prior to asking to be invited into a client’s home, it is sometimes necessary to allow the client to process the idea of agency intervention. You may have to ask more than once.

4. Once in the home, ask the client’s permission to be seated and follow his or her instruction on where to sit. You may ask to move at some point during the visit, once rapport has been established.

5. Observe obvious rules in the home (shoes by the door or feet off the furniture, for example). You might explain to clients that you are a guest and ask them to advise you if you are breaking any of the house rules.

Physical Conditions

    When interviewing a client in an office setting, the social worker has some control over the environment. This is not the case when seeing clients at home. Ideal physical conditions for an interview include comfortable seating and room temperature, freedom from distraction, ample space to move around, and a sanitary location (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney, Strom-Gottfried, & Larsen, 2010).  Some tips for making your surroundings as conducive as possible include:

1. If you have a great deal of paperwork to process with the client, it may be beneficial to be seated at a dining table during a portion of your visit.

2. Politely ask the client to turn off the television or radio so both of you can concentrate on the interview.

3. When visiting a home with young children, take a bag with coloring books and crayons, puzzles, and small toys. These items can be purchased cheaply but are invaluable to keeping young children occupied. You might even consider carrying animal crackers and juice boxes to help pacify cranky kids.

Ethical Considerations

    Several ethical quandaries can occur when your primary contact with clients happens outside an office, especially issues related to blurred boundaries, accepting gifts, and confidentiality.

1. Blurred boundaries: There is a certain level of intimacy present when interviewing a client in his or her home rather than in an office. For instance, you might drop by during dinner time or be present during a heated argument between a teenage daughter and her father. It can be tempting to loosen the professional boundaries in what is often an unstructured work environment. It is the social worker’s responsibility to stay focused on issues directly related to child well-being and ensure the home visits are professional, rather than social (Collins, Jordan, & Coleman, 2010; Snyder & McCollum, 1999).

2. Accepting gifts: Clients might also offer you food and drink when visiting their homes. According to Frederic Reamer (2003), an expert on social work ethics, “boundary crossings are not inherently unethical” but are only “harmful when the dual relationship has negative consequences for the social worker’s client” (p. 121). As always, social workers should use professional discretion and appropriate supervision when faced with boundary issues. You must also be sensitive to cultural norms and client motivation when faced with accepting gifts such as food and drink in a client’s home, or small tokens of appreciation from clients.  

3. Confidentiality: Most agencies require their employees to be issued an identification badge. For safety reasons, badges help to distinguish employees from clients in the building, as well as identify social workers to their clients. It is important to be aware, however, that a badge might threaten client confidentiality if it draws attention to you and alerts neighbors and community members that you are from a social service agency. A second possible breech of confidentiality “can occur when the client’s extended family members, neighbors, and friends are present during home visits or when visits take place in community settings such as a park or fast-food restaurant” (Allen & Tracy, 2008, p.136). You might want to take the client’s lead to see if he or she introduces you to the family or ask your client’s permission before telling the friend or family member how you know them.

Safety Concerns

    Make sure someone else knows the specific address where you are going. We suggest posting a whiteboard in your office with a list of places you will be visiting each day. Your agency may require that you utilize a digital sign in/out method. Since other clients will likely be in the building, you should record the neighborhood or street where you will be, rather than writing down the client name on a whiteboard. Sometimes, upon your first visit, it is advisable to drive by the actual address to assess the surroundings, thus helping you choose the safest and most accessible place to park a vehicle. Additionally, this “drive by” will provide an opportunity to determine if there are hazards such as unrestrained animals, blocked entrances (and exits), and loiterers.

    When possible, review agency and criminal history of your client prior to your visit. When in question, consult with your supervisor regarding the accompaniment of law enforcement on your visit.

    Always be aware of potential entrances and exits to the home. It is appropriate to ask the client the names of those who enter the home during your visit. Maintain a working cell phone or radio in your pocket or within your reach, and always be prepared to remove yourself from emotionally charged situations as needed. When possible, sit in a location where you can observe the door. It is also appropriate to ask the client to restrain pets during your visit.

Organization and Time Management

    Child welfare social workers usually spend a lot of time in their cars, traveling from one client’s house to another, to one of the local elementary schools, to juvenile court, and maybe back to the office before seeing another client on the way home from work. There are several things we suggest, to be as efficient as possible with your time:

1. Arrange your schedule so that you are able to visit with clients who live near each other or on the same side of town. Take into consideration factors such as school release times and work schedules of your clients. If it does not compromise safety of the family members, leave your business card and contact information when you have visited a home with no one there.

2. Carry a folder or binder organized with the forms you are likely to need in the field. Working with families experiencing abuse or neglect, we often utilize referrals to the local food bank, Medicaid, and financial assistance applications, releases of information for communication with other providers, safety plans, and a list of community resources.

3. Ensure that you have a number for the local law enforcement dispatcher readily available on your phone.

4. Sometimes it is helpful to contact the client prior to your visit to ensure contact. When this is not possible, it is advisable to attempt your visit at different times during the day.

5. When possible, take anecdotal notes during the visit to enable you to later record items pertinent to your visit. It can be beneficial to tell the client that you’d like to write a few things down to ensure that you are able to reflect upon them later.  

Terminating the Visit

    Prior to dismissing yourself from the visit, be sure to summarize the content of the information that you have shared with and gathered from your client. Identify any “to do” items that will be completed by you and the client. Provide the client an opportunity to discuss anything further that he or she feels is important. When possible, advise clients of what your next steps will be. Make sure clients have your contact information for follow-up, as they most likely will have questions after you have left their home.

    Social workers practicing in public child welfare have to get used to an often unstructured work setting, seeing clients in their homes and communities. Yet by attending to the unique challenges inherent in making home visits, social workers can be effective in providing hands-on and immediate assistance to vulnerable children and their families.

Allen, S.F., & Tracy, E.M. (2008). Developing student knowledge and skills for home-based social work practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 44 (1), 125-143.

Collins, D., Jordan, C., & Coleman, H. (2010). An introduction to family social work (3rd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.

Hepworth, D., Rooney, R., Rooney, G. D., Strom-Gottfried, K., & Larsen, J. (2010). Direct social work practice: Theory and skills (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.

Reamer, F. G. (2003). Boundary issues in social work: Managing dual relationships. Social Work, 48 (1), 121-133.

Snyder, W., & McCollum, E. (1999). Their home is their castle: Learning to do in-home family therapy. Family Processes, 38( 2), 229-244.

Natalie D. Pope, Ph.D., LCSW, is an assistant professor in the social work department at Ohio University in Athens, OH.  Jennifer B. Hadden, MSW, is a Ph.D. student at the University of Georgia with more than 15 years of child welfare experience.

All material published on this website Copyright 1994-2023 White Hat Communications. All rights reserved. Please contact the publisher for permission to reproduce or reprint any materials on this site. Opinions expressed on this site are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Brief Home Visiting: Improving Outcomes for Children

What is Home Visiting?

Home visiting is a prevention strategy used to support pregnant moms and new parents to promote infant and child health, foster educational development and school readiness, and help prevent child abuse and neglect. Across the country, high-quality home visiting programs offer vital support to parents as they deal with the challenges of raising babies and young children. Participation in these programs is voluntary and families may choose to opt out whenever they want. Home visitors may be trained nurses, social workers or child development specialists. Their visits focus on linking pregnant women with prenatal care, promoting strong parent-child attachment, and coaching parents on learning activities that foster their child’s development and supporting parents’ role as their child’s first and most important teacher. Home visitors also conduct regular screenings to help parents identify possible health and developmental issues.

Legislators can play an important role in establishing effective home visiting policy in their states through legislation that can ensure that the state is investing in evidence-based home visiting models that demonstrate effectiveness, ensure accountability and address quality improvement measures. State legislation can also address home visiting as a critical component in states’ comprehensive early childhood systems.

What Does the Research Say?

Decades of research in neurobiology underscores the importance of children’s early experiences in laying the foundation for their growing brains. The quality of these early experiences shape brain development which impacts future social, cognitive and emotional competence. This research points to the value of parenting during a child’s early years. High-quality home visiting programs can improve outcomes for children and families, particularly those that face added challenges such as teen or single parenthood, maternal depression and lack of social and financial supports.

Rigorous evaluation of high-quality home visiting programs has also shown positive impact on reducing incidences of child abuse and neglect, improvement in birth outcomes such as decreased pre-term births and low-birthweight babies, improved school readiness for children and increased high school graduation rates for mothers participating in the program. Cost-benefit analyses show that high quality home visiting programs offer returns on investment ranging from $1.75 to $5.70 for every dollar spent due to reduced costs of child protection, K-12 special education and grade retention, and criminal justice expenses.

Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program

The federal home visiting initiative, the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, started in 2010 as a provision within the Affordable Care Act, provides states with substantial resources for home visiting. The law appropriated $1.5 billion in funding over the first five years (from FYs 2010-2014) of the program, with continued funding extensions through 2016. In FY 2016, forty-nine states and the District of Columbia, four territories and five non-profit organizations were awarded $344 million. The MIECHV program was reauthorized under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act through September 30, 2017 with appropriations of $400 million for each of the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 ( P.L. 115-123 ) included new MIECHV funding. MIECH was reauthorized for five years at $400 million and includes a new financing model for states. The new model authorizes states to use up to 25% of their grant funds to enter into public-private partnerships called pay-for-success agreements. This financing model requires states to pay only if the private partner delivers improved outcomes. The bill also requires improved state-federal data exchange standards and statewide needs assessments. MIECHV is up for reauthorization, set to expire on Sept. 30, 2022.  

The MIECHV program emphasizes that 75% of the federal funding must go to evidence-based home visiting models, meaning that funding must go to programs that have been verified as having a strong research basis. To date,  19 models  have met this standard. Twenty-five percent of funds can be used to implement and rigorously evaluate models considered to be promising or innovative approaches. These evaluations will add to the research base for effective home visiting programs. In addition, the MIECVH program includes a strong accountability component requiring states to achieve identified benchmarks and outcomes. States must show improvement in the following areas: maternal and newborn health, childhood injury or maltreatment and reduced emergency room visits, school readiness and achievement, crime or domestic violence, and coordination with community resources and support. Programs are being measured and evaluated at the state and federal levels to ensure that the program is being implemented and operated effectively and is achieving desired outcomes.

With the passage of the MIECHV program governors designated state agencies to receive and administer the federal home visiting funds. These designated  state leads provide a useful entry point for legislators who want to engage their state’s home visiting programs.

Advancing State Policy

Evidence-based home visiting can achieve positive outcomes for children and families while creating long-term savings for states.

With the enactment of the MIECHV grant program, state legislatures have played a key role by financing programs and advancing legislation that helps coordinate the variety of state home visiting programs as well as strengthening the quality and accountability of those programs.

During the 2019 and 2021 sessions, Oregon ( SB 526 ) and New Jersey ( SB 690 ), respectively, enacted legislation to implement and maintain a voluntary statewide program to provide universal newborn nurse home visiting services to all families within the state to support healthy child development. strengthen families and provide parenting skills.    

During the 2018 legislative session New Hampshire passed  SB 592  that authorized the use of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds to expand home visiting and child care services through family resource centers. Requires the development of evidence-based parental assistance programs aimed at reducing child maltreatment and improving parent-child interactions.

In 2016 Rhode Island lawmakers passed the Rhode Island Home Visiting Act ( HB 7034 ) that requires the Department of Health to coordinate the system of early childhood home visiting services; implement a statewide home visiting system that uses evidence-based models proven to improve child and family outcomes; and implement a system to identify and refer families before the child is born or as early after the birth of a child as possible.

In 2013 Texas lawmakers passed the Voluntary Home Visiting Program ( SB 426 ) for pregnant women and families with children under age 6. The bill also established the definitions of and funding for evidence-based and promising programs (75% and 25%, respectively).

Arkansas lawmakers passed  SB 491  (2013) that required the state to implement statewide, voluntary home visiting services to promote prenatal care and healthy births; to use at least 90% of funding toward evidence-based and promising practice models; and to develop protocols for sharing and reporting program data and a uniform contract for providers.

View a list of significant  enacted home visiting legislation from 2008-2021 . You can also visit NCSL’s early care and education database which contains introduced and enacted home visiting legislation for all fifty states and the District of Columbia. State officials face difficult decisions about how to use limited funding to support vulnerable children and families.

Key Questions to Consider

State officials face difficult decisions about how to use limited funding to support vulnerable children and families and how to ensure programs achieve desired results. Evidence-based home visiting programs have the potential to achieve important short- and long-term outcomes.

Several key policy areas are particularly appropriate for legislative consideration:

• Goal-Setting: What are they key outcomes a state seeks to achieve with its home visiting programs? Examples include improving maternal and child health, increasing school readiness and/or reducing child abuse and neglect.
• Evidence-based Home Visiting: Have funded programs demonstrated that they delivered high-quality services and measureable results? Does the state have the capacity to collect data and measure program outcomes? Is the system capable of linking data systems across public health, human services, and education to measure and track short and long-term outcomes?
• Accountability: Do home visiting programs report data on outcomes for families who participate in their programs? Do state and program officials use data to improve the quality and impact of services?
• Effective Governance and Coordination: Do state officials coordinate all their home visiting programs as well as connect them with other early childhood efforts such as preschool, child care, health and mental health?
• Sustainability:  Shifts in federal funding make it likely that states will have to maintain programs with state funding. Does the state have the capacity to maintain the program? Does the state have the information necessary to make difficult funding decisions to make sure limited resources are spent in the most effective way? 

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Related resources, social media and children 2024 legislation, maternal health care that covers more than just childbirth.

Delaware and Louisiana are among the states that have passed bills to support mothers and families in every part of pregnancy, including after the baby is born.

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6 Home Visiting: Essential Guidelines for Home Visits and Engaging With Families

• Published: August 2008
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Home visiting has a long history in education, family and child welfare, and physical and mental health services. Home visits are critical in serving children and youth from birth to high school and in addressing issues ranging from programs for pre-school children through school system concerns. Educational organizations rely on home visits to address a wide range of issues related to student behaviors such as attendance, discipline, physical or mental challenges, drug or alcohol abuse, depression, or antisocial activities. Other home visits focus on student characteristics relating specifically to school performance, such as risk for school failure among pre-school children or low academic achievement among school-aged children. This chapter presents information relevant for school social workers and others who provide services to school-aged students and their families. It begins with providing information on the prevalence of home visiting and a brief review of program outcomes. It then includes guidelines for home visiting, specific information for preparing for a home visit, and a framework and strategies to guide the actual home visit. Additional resources are provided to illustrate the various types of programs, purposes, and outcomes of home visitation.

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What do social services look for in a home visit

1    comments

As a social worker, depending on the type of visit, I can end up looking for many things. But in this article, I want to share what social services commonly look for in a home visit, regardless of the type of visit we are on.

Having a messy home, with dishes everywhere, clothes piled, and trash all over the floor… This is often one of the first warning signs that not everything is right in this home.

Whilst we are all human, and therefore imperfect, having a terribly messy home is not exactly the best impression you can make to a social worker that everything is under control.

Recently bought items

Many clients come to me telling me of their financial difficulties. But recently, I saw a client with a new phone in his hand when I visited at his home. Another client had a brand new wardrobe. Was their financial difficulty that severe?

Whilst I am not in a place to judge their purchases or what they choose to buy, as a social worker, I tend to look for recently bought big-ticket items as an indication of the family’s financial capability.

As a social worker, I often like to check if the family has enough food. It is not only whether there is enough food, but whether there is nutritious food. I remembered a client who used to feed his two young children bread and jam everyday. I was concerned that those two young children were not necessarily getting the nutrients they needed. In addition, I’ve seen other clients who have filled their entire fridge with microwave meals and freezer with frozen meals. These meals might not necessarily be the most healthy option for the family.

To do so, I tend to ask the client to show me his food cupboard, or his fridge to see if he has sufficient food for the family. I also like to see if the family has a way of cooking their food, by observing their cookers or ovens. This way, I can ensure that the family does not only have food, but a way to prepare the food.

Shower/bath area

Going into a client’s toilet can often reveal a lot about the client. I used to have a client who would do everything in his toilet. He would do his laundry, washing, and store his bicycle! It helped me to see what was safe and unsafe for him. I also started to look at what changes we could make to help him live better.

When I go into a client’s toilet, I tend to note if the place is safe. Then, I observe if the client has the normal toiletries, such as toothbrushes, toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, and shampoo. A lack of these things might show that the client is struggling financially to afford such items. Or he might not be engaging in regular self-care for his own good.

Having the right furniture in a home is necessary for the family to thrive, and just survive. I once encountered a family who didn’t have a dining table to eat on. They would frequently eat out or on the floor. They also didn’t have a fridge to store items. This meant that they could not cook much. In addition, they did not have a water heater for hot showers in the morning. All of these meant that the children were not able to feel a sense of belonging to home, and would often much rather be out of the home.

One of my first priorities as a social worker was to ensure that they had the necessary household furniture to make home more like home. I wanted them to feel at home and not just housed.

This eventually helped in building a greater relationship between the parent and her children. It also reduced the problems the children gave to their parent.

This is a list of things that I, as a social worker, would tend to look out for in a home visit. If you have other things that might be helpful, please feel free to add them in the comments below!

Home visits are a crucial part of a social worker’s day. I hope this helps you to answer what social services look for in a home visit.

To find out how you might do better at other areas of your work, you can check:

How to write better casenotes

How to manage caseloads

How to focus

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The 14 best books to read as a social worker, should you take a fsc social worker job.

I’ve been involved with Social Services, recently. They tell me that, surprise visits, aren’t done anymore. Question, how do you expect to get the complete story, if they know you’re going? Neglect, abuse and other actions, will change, because they know you’re going. Then back to ‘normal’, when you’ve left. My situation is regarding my granddaughter. Her mum makes sure everything, appears, as it should, but in reality, a lot of things, will not be seen. We know this, because our granddaughter tells us.

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What Is a Social Worker Visitation?

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Social workers who work in specific settings, such as child welfare agencies, are often called upon to perform home visits with their clients. A social worker visitation is a visit performed in a home or, occasionally, another suitable location for the purposes of supervising a meeting between two parties.

This can be a daunting task that requires appropriate professional boundaries and clinical skills needed to manage visitations. Understanding the importance of home visits in social work will help you better understand the work.

Function of the Job

There are varying levels of visitation, ranging from structured family visits to relaxed or intermittent supervision, in which a social worker is only present for part of a visitation. In most cases, social worker visitations are performed to provide supervision to families who have been separated due to abuse, neglect, abandonment or drug and alcohol abuse.

Social workers who work in child welfare settings are probably the most common providers of visitation services. Visitations most often occur when children are removed from their natural families and placed in alternative care settings, but they may also occur when children remain in their homes. Depending on the circumstances, children may be allowed to have supervised visits with their families, including parents and siblings.

Goals for Visits

A social worker usually tries to promote reunification of the family, if possible. This is not always feasible, and sometimes children are permanently removed from their families and placed in foster care. A social worker evaluates the circumstances and behaviors of involved parties during each visitation to determine the appropriate course of action, explains MyCaseHelper.com .

During a visitation, the social worker teaches specific parenting skills to parents and assists them with interacting with their child. She also helps children deal with fears of abandonment and the difficulties inherent to being separated from their parents.

Responsibilities of Social Workers

A social worker who performs visitations usually has several important responsibilities to her clients. It's crucial for children to maintain strong attachments to their parents when they are removed from their homes.

A social worker's main responsibility is to maintain the attachment of a child to his parents. She accomplishes this by arranging frequent, supervised contact, which may vary based on the age of the child.

A social worker may also prepare placement plans, develop written visitation plans that include frequency and timing of visits, notify parents if visitations need to be cancelled or rescheduled and perform administrative tasks, like filling out forms and other paperwork.

Other Factors to Consider

Visitations may take a social worker out of her comfort zone, especially in the beginning phases. Do social workers do home visits alone? Yes, and this can be dangerous. During the first visit, a social worker is entering unfamiliar territory and must take certain precautions to ensure her safety and the safety of her clients, explains Social Workers Toolbox.com .

She needs to assess safety conditions in the home and ensure that certain boundaries are respected. For example, a social worker must establish rules for parties involved in the visitation, such as using appropriate language and maintaining physical boundaries.

Social workers must also be aware of exits to the home and make sure that her supervisor knows the exact details of the visitation. She should know when to remove herself from volatile situations and when to bring law enforcement along on her visits.

• MyCaseHelper: 5 Things CPS Looks For During a Home Visit
• Social Workers Toolbox: Child protection home visit – practical guidance

Ashley Miller is a licensed social worker, psychotherapist, certified Reiki practitioner, yoga enthusiast and aromatherapist. She has also worked as an employee assistance program counselor and a substance-abuse professional. Miller holds a Master of Social Work and has extensive training in mental health diagnosis, as well as child and adolescent psychotherapy. She also has a bachelor's degree in music.

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6 Ways to Stay Safe As a Social Worker During Home Visits

If you’ve ever felt unsafe during a home visit, then keep reading. In this video I wanted to cover Social Worker home visits…this is a topic that a lot of Social Workers express concerns about when they are working in the field….and rightfully so… because sometimes we go into situation that are dangerous, that are hostile or places where there is a high level of crisis and conflict. Staying safe as a Social Worker takes planning, communication and a keen awareness of your environment and of your triggers.

Whether you are a CPS Worker, School Social Worker, Case Manager, Clinical Social Worker, or Foster Care worker…and I have been all of the above…I hope this video will give you a few things to be mindful of as you are conducting home visits. Know that you can grow and expand this list as you gain more experience in the field.

Meet Manicka

I created The Social Work Success Path blog and podcast, during the pandemic of 2021 to provide online education and mentorship for Social Workers. I felt very isolated and disconnected being only in the second year of running my private practice. I strongly considered going back to work when everything shut down. The resources and tools that I share helped me to maintain my practice through the pandemic and plan a successful transition as a Social Work content creator, doing work that I love and connecting with Social Workers all around the world. I did this in the span of 1 year, but using the resources, trainings and tools that I have pulled together, and all my all lessons learned, you can make your career transition much sooner than I did!

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Lumiform / Checklists / Streamline patient care with a social worker home visit checklist

Streamline patient care with a social worker home visit checklist

• What is a social worker home visit checklist?

Social worker home visit checklists enforce guidelines that ensure client health is assessed in a thorough, consistent, and professional manner . In order for a home visit to be effective, the checklist you used needs to cover all the guidelines for social workers, including:

• The client’s living space
• The household members’ health
• The household members’ habits (eating and sleeping)
• The household member’s leisure time activities

An incorrect assessment may wind up damaging the patient’s overall wellbeing. This is why many healthcare facilities use a standardized social worker home visit checklist, because it’s a step-by-step walkthrough that ensures patient safety and living conditions are evaluated correctly.

Table of contents

Why use a social worker home visit checklist, 1. check for unsafe or unhealthy conditions, 2. look for physical hazards, 3. note family members in the home, 4. take lots of pictures, 5. observe mental health signs, 6. find out if they’re getting enough support from family and friends.

Home visit safety checklists for social workers are a means of identifying hazards present in a client’s living situation. During a home visit, social workers document every detail included in these checklists , leading to the most objective and accurate assessment possible.

These checklists are necessary because they gather all relevant information in one place so that clients get the best service possible. A social worker home visit checklist will make sure that all potential issues are identified before going into a client’s house, so that when something goes wrong, you’re prepared to address it.

What should a social worker home visit checklist include?

Social services workers are often the first point of contact for people who are experiencing a crisis . A social work home visit checklist can be used to determine whether or not a patient is ready to return to work, or by a judge who is deciding whether or not someone can be granted custody of their child.

They are responsible for ensuring that the people they serve have access to the help they need, and for making sure that clients are as comfortable as possible during social work visits.

Given those responsibilities, a social worker home visit checklist needs to:

• Check for unsafe or unhealthy conditions
• Look for physical hazards
• Note family members in the home
• Include pictures of the household
• Document signs of poor mental health
• Check for social support from family and friends

How do you write a social worker home visit checklist?

Pest infestations, rodent infestations, cockroach infestations, bed bugs, fleas, and lice are some of the most common health hazards that you may encounter during a home visit investigation.

Check for signs of these pests inside and outside the home. If you find any evidence of these conditions, your client may require assistance getting rid of them or changing their living situation.

A home visit safety checklist for social workers should include the following:

• The client’s home is free from pests, rodents, cockroaches and other insect infestation.
• The client’s home environment is not exposed to extreme weather conditions that can breed insect infestation.
• The client is living in premises that are free from pests.

Look for trip hazards, fall hazards, sharp edges on furniture, and any other items that could injure children. Make sure nothing in the home poses an electrical hazard. Check for frayed or poorly placed cords (such as those near a table leg or child’s toy).

Look for anything that has exposed wires or hot surfaces. Inspect all outlets and light switches and make sure they are not tampered with in any way.

During home visits, social workers should make sure:

• No harmful exposure to clients’ health is observed, such as household products with hazardous ingredients like ammonia, bleach, or paint thinner (all of which can cause poisoning)
• No issue needs to be reported to Child Welfare Services for further investigation
• Handrails are provided for the senior’s bathroom
• Furnishings and activities are age appropriate

The checklist should includes names of the client’s family members. It’s important to ask the family questions about their living situation, such as:

• Are there any new members?
• Has anything changed recently? (e.g., birth, death)
• Have there been any recent moves? (e.g., recently returned from evacuation center)

Taking pictures is a great way to document the condition of a home. It’s also important to take pictures of any food, clothing or toys that the patients use. For example, do you only see one pair of shoes for all three children? This could be a sign that someone in the family needs new shoes.

Taking photos also reminds you what you saw during your visit and gives you something tangible to show later on in court or in meetings with other professionals.

Take pictures of the backyard or outside area to document the condition of the home and provide evidence for your report.

Any photos you take should:

• Be well lit, in focus, and taken with a good quality camera (e.g., digital). Don’t use your smartphone’s camera.
• Have all relevant information in frame (e.g., both sides of the house; sidewalk leading up to the house).
• Include multiple versions for different times of day so that you can capture every possible view (e.g. to show how dark it gets in the front yard when streetlights turn off).

While a social worker home visit is mainly focused on the patient’s physical health, it’s important to check in on their mental health as well. Mental health problems can make a person feel isolated , which can lead to depression and even suicide.

If you notice that your patient is showing signs of depression, isolation, or any other signs of mental distress, make sure to speak with them about it. You may also propose therapy.

Some signs you as a social worker should look for include:

• Excessive sadness
• Feelings of worthlessness
• Difficulty concentrating and making decisions
• Sleep problems (insomnia or sleeping too much)
• Low energy and fatigue
• Irritability

A person’s support network is a vital aspect of a social worker home visit checklist. Informal carers provide important emotional and practical help for people with mental health problems, but are not always a support system as such. You can evaluate feelings of support by asking:

• Do you feel that your family/friends give you enough support?
• If not, what do they need to do more of?
• How often do you visit your family or friends every week?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you with your social circles?

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Writing a social worker home visit checklist using workflow automation

Quality social worker home visit checklists are essential for social workers, especially when they’re new to the job. As a new social worker, it can be hard to know what information you’ll need and how much time you’ll have to devote to each task.

Paper-based checklists can be difficult to manage, especially if you’re dealing with multiple cases. That’s where workflow automation solutions like Lumiform come in. Lumiform makes creating checklists easy with a digital form builder, centralizes your staff, and synchronizes all their tasks so that they can work autonomously. Using Lumiform’s mobile app and desktop software allows you to:

• Turn all your manual data, records and images into digital forms that can be completed and viewed by any of your team members
• Make home visits faster, safer, and free of errors by recording even the smallest details automatically in regularly-generated analysis reports
• Help you and your social workers stay organized days or even weeks in advance with regular notifications and updates
• Create custom forms that are 100% tailor-made to suit your needs
• Complete your social work visits up to 10 times faster

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Max is a Content Writer at Lumiform originally from New York, NY. Before Lumiform, he worked at the fintech company, writing on a range of fintech-related topics. He has experience writing blogs, CRM communication, guides, and landing pages. In addition to a love of content writing, Max is passionate about standup comedy and cooking.

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Use this template to assess the health status of a patient during a home visit.

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Study sheds light on the positive role of school connectedness for adolescents

Published June 17, 2024

Jangmin Kim

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A study co-authored by Jangmin Kim, PhD, assistant professor in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, is shedding light on the positive role that school connectedness — or feeling accepted and cared for within a school setting — has for adolescents. The study goes on to suggest that school connectedness can significantly reduce psychological and behavioral problems, but that its effect differs by race and ethnicity.

The article — titled “The interaction of race/ethnicity and school connectedness in presenting internalizing and externalizing behaviors among adolescents” — appeared in Children and Youth Services Review.

Kim's colleagues included lead author Mijin Choi, PhD, from Texas State University and co-authors Sei-Young Lee, PhD, from the University of Northern Iowa and Jungup Lee, PhD, from the National University of Singapore.

A sense of school connectedness is a protective factor for reducing problematic behaviors among adolescents. However, there have been limited studies that have identified differences in the effects of school connectedness on the behaviors among diverse races/ethnicities.

This study examined the associations of school connectedness with internalizing and externalizing behaviors and the moderation effect of race/ethnicity on these associations.

Data came from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, wave 6 (n = 976). Multiple regression models and conditional process analysis were used.

A higher level of school connectedness was associated with lower internalizing and externalizing behaviors. However, this association was weaker and less significant for adolescents of color than for white adolescents. School connectedness plays a positive role in decreasing their internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but the magnitudes of effects differ by race/ethnicity. Strategies to build a more culturally responsive school environment are recommended to strengthen the positive role of school connectedness for adolescents of color.

This research contributes to one of the  Grand Challenges for Social Work tackling our nation's toughest social problems: Ensure healthy development for youth.

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A New Approach to Regulating Speech on Social Media: Treating Users as Workers

Jun 17, 2024, 3:10 PM

Social media has proven difficult to regulate for the last 20+ years, in large part because First Amendment considerations present a significant obstacle to regulating platforms. Arguments for and against regulating speech on social media tend to view platforms as offering content and connectivity and users as consumers of a service, exacerbating First Amendment concerns.

But what if the “user-as-consumer” characterization misconstrues the business model of social media, and platform users actually behave more like workers?

“ Social Network as Work ,” a paper by Francesca Procaccini , Assistant Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, establishes a novel paradigm for regulating speech on social media – by equating the use of social media with labor.

“Reorienting how we think about social media by framing users as workers suggests that legal frameworks from labor and employment are especially productive for governing social media,” she writes.

Social media as a form of labor

User engagement –in the form of posts, scrolls, clicks, likes, etc. – generates content and data that social platforms repackage and sell to advertisers. As compensation, platforms provide social, informational, and entertainment benefits to users. While this arrangement differs from traditional workplace models, Procaccini argues that the essential characteristics of work factor directly into the platform-user relationship.

“(The) defining economic and power dynamics between employers and workers are analogous to those between platforms and users.” Platforms supervise user activity and enjoy an informational advantage, all while operating in “an otherwise socially collegial environment,” similar to most workplaces. Users and workers alike are potentially subject to safety hazards, discrimination, harassment, and misinformation.

“Social media users share analogous structural conditions, risks, and harms as traditional workers, and are in need of analogous statutory protections as employees,” she writes.

Protections for speech in the workplace

The First Amendment permits ample regulation of speech in the workplace. “The same words in different contexts carry different levels of First Amendment protection, largely in accordance with the varying power and information asymmetries that define the setting,” Procaccini explains. In the workplace setting, speech rights of employers and workers have long been diminished, “to protect the efficacy of the employment relationship and the rights and dignity of those in it.”

Many of the features that justify regulating speech in the workplace are present in social media as well. Both are confined settings that present considerable alternatives for speech. The “inherently coercive nature” of each environment creates a greater risk of harm. Importantly, speech in the workplace and social media is “inextricably bound up with commercial conduct.”

“Circumscribing constitutional protection in the private workplace to account for these dynamics is quite sound under the First Amendment,” Procaccini writes, “because doing so actually maximizes the freedom of speech by augmenting private citizens’ capacity to speak and contribute to the marketplace of ideas.”

The paper details federal and state regulations on employer and employee speech, including bans on discriminatory, abusive, false, and coercive speech, proselytizing, and undue influence on political and labor choices. Employers are in many cases required to disclosure factual information like legal rights and health and safety warnings. Workers are regularly protected from employer reprisal for whistleblowing and other forms of speech. These work laws address the competing interests and rights of employers, workers, and co-workers to eliminate unjust social stratification and subjugation. “This is exactly the type of law social media needs,” Procaccini writes.

Regulating speech on social media

Procaccini uses these speech-related work laws to develop a framework for social media regulation. The paper advocates for measures such as stricter prohibitions on discriminatory, harassing, false, and coercive speech between users, stronger mechanisms to combat abuse on platforms, broader disclosure and disclaimer requirements, and prohibitions on child social networking.

While work law motivates her proposal, Procaccini notes that it should not apply in full to social media.  Social media is not work under current labor and employment law,” she writes. “But it is enough like work—and produces harms that map onto those in the workplace so tightly—that work law offers a surprisingly generative framework for regulating social media consistent with the First Amendment.”

“ Social Network as Work ” is forthcoming in the Cornell Law Review.

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Study sheds light on the positive role of school connectedness for adolescents

Published June 17, 2024

Jangmin Kim

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• Full Article
• 5/4/23 Jangmin Kim's Faculty Profile

A study co-authored by Jangmin Kim, PhD, assistant professor in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, is shedding light on the positive role that school connectedness — or feeling accepted and cared for within a school setting — has for adolescents. The study goes on to suggest that school connectedness can significantly reduce psychological and behavioral problems, but that its effect differs by race and ethnicity.

The article — titled “The interaction of race/ethnicity and school connectedness in presenting internalizing and externalizing behaviors among adolescents” — appeared in Children and Youth Services Review.

Kim's colleagues included lead author Mijin Choi, PhD, from Texas State University and co-authors Sei-Young Lee, PhD, from the University of Northern Iowa and Jungup Lee, PhD, from the National University of Singapore.

A sense of school connectedness is a protective factor for reducing problematic behaviors among adolescents. However, there have been limited studies that have identified differences in the effects of school connectedness on the behaviors among diverse races/ethnicities.

This study examined the associations of school connectedness with internalizing and externalizing behaviors and the moderation effect of race/ethnicity on these associations.

Data came from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, wave 6 (n = 976). Multiple regression models and conditional process analysis were used.

A higher level of school connectedness was associated with lower internalizing and externalizing behaviors. However, this association was weaker and less significant for adolescents of color than for white adolescents. School connectedness plays a positive role in decreasing their internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but the magnitudes of effects differ by race/ethnicity. Strategies to build a more culturally responsive school environment are recommended to strengthen the positive role of school connectedness for adolescents of color.

This research contributes to one of the  Grand Challenges for Social Work tackling our nation's toughest social problems: Ensure healthy development for youth.

Do you have questions or comments for the Office of the Provost? Let us know your thoughts and we’ll be happy to get back to you.

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