This paper outlines some of the moral issues I faced when working in the field with homeless children and children with cerebral palsy. Bill Bunge argues that the 'immediacy' of fieldwork requires that we divest ourselves of theoretical and philosophical pretensions to attend the urgency of our participants' context. I use personal examples of powerful and contradictory experiences from working with young people in the field to highlight the importance of a moral integrity that recognizes vulnerability and the needs of (...) the moment. (shrink)