ABSTRACT
Emily1 was the youngest of the social workers at a Hong Kong governmentfunded social service center serving New Arrival2 needs where I conducted research for fifteen months in 2001 and 2002.3 She had just been working there for a few months when I began my involvement with the center’s staff and clients. By the time that I interviewed Emily almost one year after first meeting her, she had begun to form clear opinions about the center’s clients and her work with them. In particular, her interaction with numerous clients and the influence of the more experienced social workers had left her with the opinion that many of the New Arrivals who came to the center were not responsible, either in terms of their expectations of their lives after arrival in Hong Kong, or in terms of their planning before arrival. She told me about the interaction that she had with one client, who was pregnant, which had been especially memorable for her.
