Why Every Social Worker Should Ask About Pets

During my career in child protection, I encountered many situations where pets were present or harmed: the child who threw a school tortoise across a room, a domestic abuse case where a cat was swung by the tail, and neglect cases in homes where the pet’s needs were also overlooked.

Now in my role as a vet, I have also witnessed the harm that can occur when professionals fail to recognise the importance of pets within the home. Including animals in social work assessments can strengthen our understanding of family life, while also ensuring that the welfare of the animal is considered. Pets should therefore be part of a holistic social work assessment.

Understanding the Human–Animal Bond

As of 2026, it is estimated that around 62% of households own one of the UK’s 36.5 million pets (UK Pet Food Pet Population Report, 2026). Whilst most pets are cats, dogs and rabbits, we should also be considering all other pets such as guinea pigs, horses, birds and reptiles.

Children may describe pets as siblings, best friends or confidantes. For children experiencing domestic abuse, animals can be particularly important, providing comfort and a relationship in which they feel listened to and understood. Adults may rely on animals for emotional support during bereavement, domestic abuse, loneliness or periods of poor wellbeing. For older people, caring for a companion animal can provide purpose and routine.

Pets can provide affection, consistency during periods of instability and opportunities for routine, exercise and social interaction. For a child experiencing adversity, the daily ritual of caring for, or spending time with an animal may be particularly significant.

From a social work perspective, these relationships deserve consideration alongside other important family relationships.

Why Social Workers Should Ask About Pets

Assessment is fundamentally about understanding a person’s lived experience. Many of our commonly used assessment tools and frameworks provide us with a variety of prompts, yet do not include the family pets. There are likely many social workers that may never ask whether the family has pets or explore their significance within the home setting.

It doesn’t have to be complicated, and you don’t need to be an animal expert. You can start the conversation with something as simple as:

"Tell me about the animals in your family."

This sentence can open conversations that can bring valuable information about relationships, strengths and risks within a family home.

Here are some of the ways that pets can help to strengthen the assessment process:

• Provide insight into family routines and responsibilities; who is doing the caring and when?
• Attachment and nurturing behaviours; is this animal being cared for?  Observe these interactions.
• Children's emotional wellbeing; what does this pet represent to the child? What would be the impact of separating the pet from the child?
• Social isolation; is this dog the only reason this person leaves the house each day, especially for those experiencing mental ill health?
• Resilience and protective factors; companion animals can provide consistent comfort, routine or emotional stability.
• Financial pressures; are there concerns about the family being able to afford reasonable costs of pet ownerships including access to food and veterinary care? Is the pet registered with a local vet?
• Housing concerns; does access to pet-friendly accommodation influence decisions about where the family can live? Is this pet preventing someone from leaving an abusive relationship due to concerns about where the pet will go?
• Loss, grief and bereavement experiences; has the family recently experienced the death of a companion animal?
• Safeguarding and risk: Has the pet ever been physically harmed, threatened or neglected?
• Family separation and breakdown: What will happen to the pet during parental separation

A child may disclose worries about a family pet before feeling able to discuss concerns about themselves. A teenager may describe their cat as the only reason they come home after school or engaging with daily life. An  adult may identify their dog as their primary source of companionship following the death of a spouse, with the pet being the last surviving link to that person.

If we don’t ask about pets, these important aspects of a person's life remain hidden.

Animals as Protective Factors

Social workers spend considerable time identifying strengths within families. Pets frequently represent overlooked protective factors. Companion animals can:

• encourage routine and responsibility
• reduce loneliness
• improve emotional wellbeing
• promote exercise and engagement within the neighbourhood and community
• strengthen parent-child interactions
• facilitate communication during direct work with children
• increase resilience during adverse life events.

Children often communicate more openly when discussing their pets than when answering direct questions about themselves. Useful prompts include:

• “Tell me about your pets”.
• "Who looks after your pet [use the pet’s name at this point]?"
• "What does your pet do when someone is upset?"
• "Where does your pet sleep?"
• "Who does your pet like most?"
• "Has anything changed for your pet recently?"

Pets and Harm

There is a significant body of research that recognises the connection between animal abuse and human interpersonal violence, including child abuse, domestic abuse and elder abuse.  This is commonly referred to as  ‘The Link’. 

Where there is cruelty towards animals, practitioners should remain alert to the possibility of domestic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, child abuse, sexual abuse,  neglect or psychological/emotional abuse. Where significant abuse is already identified within a family, consideration should be given to the welfare of any animals within the household.

Pets are frequently used by perpetrators of domestic abuse to threaten, intimidate or control victims. Many of us are familiar with the Power and Control wheel in our work around domestic abuse. There is now an adapted version of the wheel that focuses specifically on the abuse of animals; this tool can easily be incorporated into current practice.

Survivor-victims may delay leaving abusive relationships because they fear what will happen to their pets. Children may remain silent because they have been threatened that speaking up will result in harm to a beloved animal. These realities highlight why social workers should routinely enquire about pets during safeguarding assessments.

Pets, Separation and Divorce

For social workers involved in the private family law proceedings, consideration should be given to inclusion of pets in Section 7 welfare reports.  Companion animals have often been viewed legally as property. Yet this perspective fails to reflect the emotional reality experienced by many families and the difficulties involved in deciding with whom a pet should live when families separate.

For children, losing daily contact with a beloved pet following parental separation can be as distressing as losing contact with a close family member. Parents may also experience significant distress where pets become a source of conflict or are used to exert control.

The Working Group on Pets on Divorce and Separation has brought together professionals from law and animal welfare related disciplines to improve consideration of companion animals during relationship breakdown. The group's work encourages practitioners to move beyond viewing pets as possessions and instead recognise their welfare, their importance to family members and the practical arrangements needed to safeguard both people and animals.

When assessing child arrangements, potential questions include:

• “Who has been the primary caregiver?”
• “What relationship does each child have with the pet?”
• “Will contact arrangements affect the animal?”
• “Are there welfare concerns?”
• “Could disagreements about the pet increase conflict?”
• “Is the pet being used to control or manipulate another family member?”

Considering these questions helps ensure assessments reflect the realities of family life.

Practical Ways to Include Animals in Assessments

Pets can be included into a range of reports, including Child and Family Assessments, parenting assessments (including PAMS and ParentAssess models),  Special Guardianship reports or adult-focused assessments.

Genograms and eco-maps can also be adapted to include companion animals, reflecting their place within the family system.

Where appropriate, practitioners should observe interactions between family members and their animals as part of understanding caregiving and emotional connection. Observe and write down your comments.

Include animals in your recommendations, including signposting service users to local veterinary services or charities. Where there are shared concerns for people, children and animals, undertaking joint home visits with the RSPCA. In situations of domestic abuse, there are specialist pet fostering services available to provide temporary care to prevent unnecessary permanent separation whilst safeguarding pets and people alike.

Considering Animal Welfare During Home Visits

Social workers are not expected to be animal welfare experts, but they are well placed to notice when an animal's welfare may be compromised. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 places a legal duty on those responsible for animals to meet their welfare needs. These are commonly referred to as the Five Welfare Needs:

• The need for a suitable environment Does the animal have access to clean, safe and appropriate living conditions?
• The need for a suitable diet Does the animal  have access to fresh water and appropriate food?
• The need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns Does the animal have opportunities to exercise, play and express natural behaviours?
• The need to be housed with, or apart from, other animals as appropriate Is the animal being kept in conditions suitable for its species? For example, rabbits usually prefer to live in pairs and should not be crammed into hutches.
• The need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease Does the animal appear injured, unwell or in obvious pain? Is the pet registered with a vet?

Poor animal welfare does not automatically indicate neglect of children or adults. However, concerns about animal welfare can coexist with wider safeguarding issues. Observations about companion animals should form part of a holistic assessment rather than being considered in isolation.

Are our needs all that different?

Veterinary charity PDSA provides low cost or funded veterinary care to people in receipt of benefits. The PDSA Pet Health Inequality Report (2026) highlights the importance of pets to people's lives while demonstrating how financial pressures can lead owners to delay veterinary treatment, or end up in debt whilst trying to care for their pets. Asking about pets can therefore provide insight into financial circumstances, emotional wellbeing, resilience and support networks, while identifying situations where economic hardship may place both people and animals at increased risk.

Conclusion

As social work continues to evolve towards increasingly holistic and inclusive practices, there is a compelling case for routinely including companion animals in assessments. Pets provide valuable insights into family life that should not be overlooked. Social workers can enhance assessment quality, improve safeguarding and better understand the experiences of the children and adults they support when they ask about the family pets.

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Yasmin was a guest on our recent Let's Talk Social Work podcast - Our Pets are Our Family - available to listen for free here.