This book focusses on social work in the time of COVID-19. Social workers, their clients, and the organisations they represent have been affected by the pandemic in multiple ways. The pandemic and various efforts to curb the viral outbreak, such as face masks and lockdowns, have forced social workers to adapt to a ‘new normal’, launch new practices, mobilise social support and networks remotely, and above all, defend the most vulnerable populations. This requires an understanding of how social work and its clients are prepared for, capable to respond to, and further, to recover from a societal crisis and human disasters, like a coronavirus pandemic. Divided into three parts, it provides a wealth of knowledge related to social work in different local and cultural contexts during the period of the global pandemic. With experienced social work researchers across a diversity of settings, contexts, and research traditions, the book is reflective of the ‘glocal’ response of social work. Offering new perspectives on challenges social workers have faced in dealing with the pandemic, it makes critical and timely insights into the innovations and adaptations in social work responses, with a strong empirical basis.It will be of interest to all social work scholars, students, and practitioners.
