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In her research, Dorien Claessen analyses human rights in practice from a legal anthropological perspective, using the 2015 Social Support Act (Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning 2015) as a case study. It 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 rely on such support depend on these assessments to participate equally in society.

The study examines how social workers in social district teams in a medium-sized municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht conduct these needs assessments and make decisions about access to care and support 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.

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 workers in social district teams should 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 and European welfare state transformations.