Community Care has this week submitted its evidence to the Social Work Task Force, based on the findings of a survey on the challenges facing the profession. The survey results suggested that plans for tackling case loads should be a priority for the taskforce, but many other topics came up too. Here we share what some of survey respondents said.
Practice
“In the 25 years I’ve seen the profession’s horizons sink and narrow .Yet I stay because I still believe in the possibilities of change.”
Social worker
“I am a newly qualified social worker and love my job. On the whole I manage to build excellent working relations with clients and professionals. Clients’ negative assumptions about social workers [tend to] change during the relationship.” Social worker
In support of social workers“She was an incredibly good listener and didn’t just go through the motions. Despite horrendously limited resources and the need to work between two different local authority areas, she found the best possible solutions available.”
Service user
“It seems that social work would like to pretend the media does not exist but sadly it does and is powerful – every horror case bringing new guidance and yet more procedure. This in turn affects service users perceptions.”
Social worker
“There is a real issue with attracting very good students, and that’s an image thing; it’s seen as below teaching, medicine, and many other jobs. When you look at what social workers have to do, that is nuts.”
Service user
Support from employers
“I get a lot of thank-yous from clients. Seldom from managers.”
Social worker
“The attitudes of other professionals [can be a problem]. I’ve seen teachers talking to parents with a ‘threat’ of referring them to social services, rather than an ‘offer’ to refer for help.”
Social worker
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More coverage of the survey findings and Community Care’s submission
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