Social Work Now: Social workers can police their own boundaries, but guidance is vital

At the extreme, flagrant end, workers must not of course abuse or exploit service users or carers, as set out in the General Social Care Council (GSCC) code of practice. Moreover, they must not "form inappropriate personal relationships with service users", and should volunteer them as soon as possible if they do. But there is a multitude of other grey-area scenarios that social workers face. The GSCC has pledged to issue guidance later this year to help social workers "practice ethically" and negotiate their boundaries. Relationships are at the heart of practice; they are complex and multi-faceted and each child and family is different. So it is right that this guidance will aim to encourage practitioners to be more self-policing rather than prescribe a set of hard-and-fast rules. Many professional boundaries are not set in stone. For social workers, they should be a matter of negotiation and professional judgment.