In a Nutshell: Independent social work in care proceedings

While some social workers working with children are employed directly by local authorities, Cafcass or charities, others act on a freelance basis, often through an agency, making them independent social workers (ISWs). They do not need to undergo any specialised social work training, but carry out their function in an independent capacity.
 
What role does an ISW play in care proceedings?
In the context of child protection, the role of an ISW may be as an expert witness in care proceedings. This involves carrying out assessments on specific issues, as requested by one of the parties in the proceedings and presenting their findings to the court. In such cases, ISWs are instructed as expert witnesses and are under the same duties and responsibilities of all expert witnesses – that is to say, their primary duty is to the court.

While a local authority social worker can act as a professional witness for the applicant in any case, an ISW in these circumstances would have an additional role as an expert witness to the court.
 
Are ISWs a necessary or important part of care proceedings?
The Family Justice Review’s interim report expressed concern over the use of ISWs as expert witnesses in care proceedings, particularly that ISW assessments may duplicate existing local authority assessments and contribute to unnecessary delays in care proceedings. The final report of the review recommends that the court seek material from an expert only when the information is not already available through other sources. However, until recently there has been very little hard evidence to show how ISW assessments are used in care proceedings.

A recent Oxford University report commissioned by the Confederation of Independent Social Work Agencies (CISWA) examined the contribution of experts in care proceedings. The report indicates that in many cases where an ISW was instructed to assess a parent despite an existing assessment, this was because the existing assessment failed to include one parent or a new partner. Such ISW assessments do not duplicate existing assessments but furnish new information to the court. In addition, in most cases in which an ISW was used, instructions were focused on changed circumstances, missing information from the core assessment, and further questions not included in previous assessments. This research indicates that ISWs play an important role in care proceedings owing to the nature of their independence and better availability to fully assess complex cases.
 
Who instructs ISWs in care proceedings?
There has been criticism that ISW assessments are requested mainly when parents disagree with local authorities and want a second opinion. However, from the cases included in the CISWA study, while parents were involved in most instructions to an ISW, most of these were instructed jointly by parents, the guardian and/or the local authority and in many cases by all three parties.