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BJSW Advance Access published online on October 21, 2008
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn142
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved

Place Matters: The Significance of Place Attachments for Children's Well-Being

Gordon Jack

Gordon Jack has been involved in social work practice and research with children and families for the past thirty years. His research work has focused on the links between the well-being of children and young people and their wider family and community circumstances, highlighting in particular the influences of poverty and other forms of inequality and disadvantage. He has taught and published widely on these issues, including writing two books with Owen Gill: The Missing Side of the Triangle: Assessing the Importance of Family and Environmental Factors in the Lives of Children (Barnardo's, 2003); and The Child and Family in Context: Developing Ecological Practice in Disadvantaged Communities (Russell House, 2007).

Correspondence to Mr Gordon Jack, School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Elvet Riverside II, New Elvet, Durham DH1 3JT, UK. E-mail: gordon.jack{at}durham.ac.uk


  Abstract

Whilst the social work literature rightly pays considerable attention to the importance for children's development and well-being of their attachments to people, there has been virtually no consideration of the role which is also played by their attachments to place. Drawing on research from fields such as human geography and environmental psychology, the significance of children's place attachments for the development of their identity, security and sense of belonging is examined. Evidene is also presented about the ‘shrinking world of childhood’, in which children's independent access to their surroundings is becoming ever more restricted as a result of parental fears, and the implications of this trend for the development of children's place attachments. Government policy relevant to these issues, including strategies designed to develop more ‘child-friendly communities’, is critically reviewed, together with evidence-based practice recommendations designed to improve the well-being of looked after children by promoting their place attachments.

Keywords: Child Welfare, Children and Families, Looked After Children


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