Special Report: Technology in Social Work

Social work leaders, practitioners and teams are increasingly using technology to improve how they engage with children, young people and families, and share vital safeguarding information with partner agencies.

Whether it is a complex, multi-million-pound IT project to integrate records across health and care agencies, or the use of a simple app to record a child's wishes for the care they receive, technology is playing an ever-increasing role in the social work landscape.

For a profession that is all about people, social work leaders are starting to recognise the opportunities that technology can offer for enhancing the way practitioners work with vulnerable children and families. And at a time when demand for services is rising but funding is reducing, research on the impact that IT solutions can have on improving efficiency is helping professionals to identify those most in need of support.

The drive to get previously incompatible systems used by health and social care agencies to talk to each other so that information held on children and families can be more easily shared could also improve safeguarding for the most vulnerable in society.

Meanwhile, the growth in wireless and mobile technology is helping social workers work smarter and more collaboratively with young people.

The latest developments in policy, evidence on impact and innovation in practice are investigated in CYP Now's 12-page special report on technology in social work.