Does it really take a village to raise a child, or is that a phrase we repeat without ever taking seriously?

In this episode of Social Work Radio, Vince and Cara explore what the evidence says about how place, neighbourhood, and environment shape children’s lives, often as powerfully as parenting itself. Drawing on research and frontline experience, they reflect on how social work assessments can narrow responsibility onto parents, while wider factors like poverty, housing, and unsafe communities fade into the background.

The conversation asks what it would mean to genuinely take environment seriously in practice, and how social workers can show greater empathy for families parenting in conditions most of us would not accept for our own children.

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