Home Visits

It has always been a requirement of any probation order, community order or prison licence to receive home visits from the supervising officer. When I started out such visits were absolutely routine and very much part of the job. In our office the area was divided into 'patches' and it was not uncommon for an officer to be going from address to address on foot well into the evening. I guess more people on our books in those days had jobs and it was the only time to catch them in. Certainly in our part of the world it was not felt to be unusual to have to conduct an interview in front of other family members, friends or clients even from further down the street. The concept of confidentiality had yet to take hold and the probation officer was very much felt to be a trusted part of the community.

As with most aspects of this very strange job, there has always been a degree of folklore attached and I well remember being told of instances where the officer would be so tired during a visit that they'd kick their shoes off and have forty winks. I heard of another officer who would routinely borrow money from his clients whilst doing his rounds and yet another who'd regularly stay for a meal! As the new boy, all this seemed unprofessional to me, but it serves to further illustrate just how much society has changed in a relatively short period of time. In those days officers from the Supplementary Benefit Commission would carry out a home visit in respect of all new claims and even up to the late 1980's, crisis payments from the DHSS were delivered in person by an officer during weekends and Bank Holidays.

Anyone who has had to undertake home visits as part of their work will be well aware of the potential pitfalls and as a consequence develop coping mechanisms. Top of the list, but not far behind dogs, is the filthy household. To be absolutely honest my coping strategy has been to get the visit over asap and have a range of damn good reasons to refuse all offers of refreshment or seat even. It never has ceased to amaze me just how big the gulf is in terms of some people's concept of hygeine and cleanliness. Just talking about it brings back the rank odours and I suspect this sort of issue might be the real reason why such visits have almost completely fallen by the wayside. By the way, over the years I really did see coal kept in a bath and floorboards used on the fire.

Even today, despite the demands of the computer and health and safety issues aside, home visits cannot be ignored and have to be undertaken in high risk cases such as sex offenders and in order to check out addresses for possible parole or curfews. There remain many other good reasons for such visits, not least in trying to find out exactly why somebody has not reported before going to all the bother of warning letters and breach action. Yes I know every client has a mobile phone, but it's amazing how many don't keep the same mobile phone or simcard even. To be honest recording mobile numbers on CRAMS is often useless when you either get a failed connection, or the inevitable "no mate - he sold me this last week."  I still find that a personal visit or a note left does the trick and keeps compliance up.