Human Rights at the Kitchen Table: Access to Justice and the Role of Social Workers at the Local Level

Abstract

This research analyses human rights in practice from a legal anthropological perspective, using the 2015 Social Support Act (Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning 2015) as a case study. This law brings the fundamental question of what human rights actually mean down to the level of those directly concerned: in the so-called “kitchen table conversation” (keukentafelgesprek)—an in-home meeting where a social worker discusses the needs, possibilities, and circumstances of a resident requesting municipal care or support. People with disabilities who often rely on such support depend on these assessments to access care and support. The study examines how social workers in social district teams in a medium-sized municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht conduct these social needs assessments and make decisions about provisions within the framework of the 2015 Social Support Act. Although the conversation setting is informal, it results in a formal legal decision that shapes the applicant’s rights in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), ratified by the Netherlands in 2016. Based semi-structured interviews and anthropological fieldwork in social district teams, the research offers new insights into the “local turn” in human rights: how human rights, and the (inter)national professional standards of Social Work in which they are recognized, are shaped in the everyday local practices where social workers operate. It shows that social district teams can be considered important human rights actors—regardless of whether they see themselves as such or explicitly apply human rights. By applying the concepts of legal capabilities and legal consciousness, the study contributes to insights on human rights localization, customization and European welfare state transformations.