Animals in Social Work: Why and How They Matter (The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series)

As I love nature, as I love singing birds, and gleaming stubble, and flowing rivers, and morning and evening, and summer and winter, I love thee. -Henry David Thoreau (1980, p. 285) 1 1 Thoreau, H. D. (1980). A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Princeton: Princeton University Press. vii Contents Series Editors' Preface ix Acknowledgements xi Notes on Contributors xii ix Series Editors' Preface This is a new book series for a new field of inquiry: Animal Ethics. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the ethics of our treatment of animals. Philosophers have led the way, and now a range of other scholars have followed, from historians to social scientists. From being a marginal issue, animals have become an emerging issue in ethics and in multidisciplinary inquiry. In addition, rethinking the status of animals has been fuelled by a range of scientific investigations that have revealed the complexity of animal sentiency, cognition and awareness. The ethical implications of this new knowledge have yet to be properly evaluated, but it is becoming clear that the old view that animals are mere things, tools, machines or commodities cannot be sustained ethically. But it is not only philosophy and science that are putting animals on the agenda. Increasingly, in Europe and the United States, animals are becoming a political issue as political parties vie for the 'green' and 'animal' vote. In turn, political scientists are beginning to look again at the history of political thought in relation to animals, and historians are beginning to revisit the political history of animal protection. As animals grow as an issue of importance, so there have been more collaborative academic ventures leading to conference volumes, special journal issues, indeed new academic animal journals as well. Moreover, we have witnessed the growth of academic courses, as well as university posts, in Animal Ethics, Animal Welfare, Animal Rights, Animal Law, Animals and Philosophy, Human-Animal Studies, Critical Animal Studies, Animals and Society, Animals in Literature, Animals and Religion -tangible signs that a new academic discipline is emerging. 'Animal Ethics' is the new term for the academic exploration of the moral status of the non-human -an exploration that explicitly involves a focus on what we owe animals morally, and that also helps us to understand the influences -social, legal, cultural, religious and political -that legitimate animal abuse. This series explores the challenges that Animal Ethics poses, both conceptually and practically, to traditional understandings of human-animal relations. The series is needed for three reasons: (i) to provide the texts that will service the new university courses on animals; (ii) to support the increasing number of students studying and academics researching in My heartfelt thanks go out to all the authors for making this pioneering collection a reality, and for their enduring the editing process with good grace. I extend my appreciation to Vidhya Jayaprakash for her prompt, efficient and courteous assistance throughout the entire copy-editing process. Once again, I'm indebted to Andrew Linzey for his initial interest and encouragement in the project, without which this book might well have remained just a good idea. xii Front Matter....Pages i-xxii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Deep Ecological ‘Insectification’: Integrating Small Friends with Social Work....Pages 3-17 The Meaning of Animals in Women’s Lives: The Importance of the ‘Domestic’ Realm to Social Work....Pages 18-31 Integrative Health Thinking and the One Health Concept: Is Social Work All for ‘One’ or ‘One’ for All?....Pages 32-47 My Dog Is My Home: Increasing Awareness of Inter-Species Homelessness in Theory and Practice....Pages 48-63 Social Justice beyond Human Beings: Trans-species Social Justice....Pages 64-79 The Moral Priority of Vulnerability and Dependency: Why Social Work Should Respect Both Humans and Animals....Pages 80-101 Front Matter....Pages 103-103 The Impact of Animals and Nature for Children and Youth with Trauma Histories: Towards A Neurodevelopmental Theory....Pages 105-119 Animal-Assisted Therapy for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders....Pages 120-134 ‘How Is Fido?’: What the Family’s Companion Animal Can Tell You about Risk Assessment and Effective Interventions — If Only You Would Ask!....Pages 135-150 The Place and Consequence of Animals in Contemporary Social Work Practice....Pages 151-166 No One Ever Asked Me That: The Value of Social Work Inquiry into the Human-Animal Bond....Pages 167-181 Stray Dogs and Social Work in Mauritius: An Analysis of Some Concerns and Challenges....Pages 182-198 Liquid Love — Grief, Loss, Animal Companions and the Social Worker....Pages 199-214 Domestic Violence and Companion Animal Welfare: The Issues, Risks and Implications for Practice....Pages 215-228 Back Matter....Pages 229-246 The invisibility of animals in social work practice has been such a longstanding feature of the discipline since the early twentieth century that it is assumed to be thoroughly consistent with social work's function and raison d'etre. Indeed suggestions to the contrary are almost invariably met with a quizzical 'What do animals have to do with social work?' Animals in Social Work: Why and How They Matter represents a pioneering collection of essays dedicated to providing a critical and practical corrective to the almost routine dismissal of animals in social work practice and thought. The various contributors argue persuasively why and how it is that animals ought to matter to social work, by way of theoretical and philosophical argument, and practical applications. Moving the discussion well beyond a focus upon animal-assisted therapies, the essays importantly serve to focus direct attention upon the wellbeing and welfare of animals in and of themselves This collection of essays articulates theoretical and philosophical arguments, and advances practical applications, as to why animals ought to matter to social work, in and of themselves. It serves as a persuasive corrective to the current invisibility of animals in contemporary social work practice and thought.