This article focuses on the experiences of social care workers during
the first wave of the Covid pandemic. The method involved
analyzing diaries kept by 65 professionals in 8 French regions
during the first lockdown in France in the spring of 2020. As a
form of non-binding, narrative expression, keeping diaries breaks
with traditional models of reporting common in social care
structures and allowed professionals to reflect on the experience
as it was lived. In the diaries, professionals explored how the
crisis disrupted and challenged their personal and professional
values but also allowed innovation in care practices for
vulnerable populations that will continue beyond the pandemic
period. Five care values were put to forefront by professionals: (1)
spontaneity/flexibility; (2) respect for persons; (3) team reflexivity;
(4) innovation; (5) solidarity. Mobilizing philosopher Paul Ricoeur’s
ideas on recognition, Payet and Laforgue’s analysis of weak
actors, as well as research on moral distress, we discuss how
these values were tested during the crisis and what effect they
had on professionals’ and users’ vulnerabilities. We will also
elaborate the interest of keeping account of social care work
through narrative methods.