Careers: An anonymous account of a real social work placement

1 December 2010 1 min read Social Care

In September, I did a four-day shadowing placement in the fostering team of a London local authority. It was a requirement for my course, which started at the end of that month.

Relationship building

I went on two home visits. You could see the relationship the social worker had built up with both foster carers was so strong. She was amazing. She knew what she needed to find out, but it wasn't at all obvious that she was ticking boxes.

She was maintaining the relationship first and foremost. I think it's important to learn that skill.

Tough decisions

At one of the home visits, there was a little boy who was nearly three. His mum had HIV, but he didn't have it and had been tested about three times. His adoption had failed, because the person who was going to adopt him wanted another test done. The social workers didn't want to put him through the test again. That taught me about the difficult decisions social workers have to make.

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