We need seasoned social workers at the sharp end of child protection
Jo Stephenson
Thursday, August 26, 2010
A common complaint among social workers is that the more experienced and skilled you become, the less time you get to spend working with children and families.
Doing face-to-face work with children and young people, and seeing first-hand the difference it makes, is probably why you went into the job in the first place. But so often moving up the career ladder means moving into management and away from frontline work. In this month's cover feature we look at different ways councils are supporting senior social workers to stay at the forefront of child protection while gaining extra responsibility and rewards. After all, it makes sense to have the most experienced workers out there dealing with those horrendously complex cases that need every ounce of skill and judgment.
Talking of complex cases, we've given our multi-agency panel a difficult scenario this month involving a young woman who has ended up in foster care after accusing her step-dad of sexual assault. While children's social workers are programmed to listen to young people and take their views seriously, young people don't always tell the truth. This young woman has had a traumatic childhood. What would you do to help her? And what do you think of what our panel members say?
This month we're also showcasing Bournemouth Council's training flat for children in care. It gives young people a taste of independent living and helps ease the transition from foster or residential care to life outside the care system. That transition is an area that deserves more attention from social services, say care leavers. Giving young people the chance to try going it alone and experience everything from new freedoms to dull household chores seems to make that move less difficult.
We also look at why Bath and North East Somerset fared well in a recent unannounced Ofsted inspection. It really was a surprise visit, explains children's services director Ashley Ayre, who had no idea the inspectors would be there to greet him when he arrived for work.
As usual we have some forthright opinion pieces. Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey outlines his concern that social workers sometimes pay too much attention to adults' needs instead of focusing on children (see p13). Meanwhile, Professor Sue White fears technology is too often seen as a substitute for traditional face-to-face social work (see p20). As she puts it: "Social workers can be supported but they cannot be replaced."
Jo Stephenson, Social Work Now editor. Email jo@jostephenson.com