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Child protection social workers are in short supply. So, is there a role that volunteers can play in the effort to keep vulnerable children safe?

Bromley social services department, south London, certainly believes so. Along with Sunderland Council, it is piloting a project that will recruit volunteers to visit families where a child is on the child protection register.

Each volunteer will be matched with a family and will be required to carry out visits at least three times a week.

The Volunteers in Child Protection project is based on a similar programme in California, which claims to have significantly reduced the levels of child abuse (see panel, page 32). It will be run by Community Service Volunteers in partnership with social services.

The Bromley pilot started advertising for volunteers in January, and according to project development worker Cathy Worden Hodge, has already attracted a lot of interest. More than 35 application packs have been sent out and 10 completed forms have been returned. Yet before being offered a volunteering role recruits will have to undergo an intensive two-hour interview and 18 hours of training, including one day on child protection that will be delivered through the area child protection committee.

The volunteers are expected to commit for a minimum period of six months but exactly what they do with their time will vary between families.

"It might be that a family doesn't know how to engage with their child, so it might be suggesting going swimming or reading a book or dropping in to make sure the child has gone to school," says Worden Hodge. "Volunteers have to live close to the family to make it work otherwise they will lose interest and drop out."

Bromley social services has zero stars. Currently, there are 70 families on its child protection register, adding up to 122 children. However, not all of these families will be suitable for the project.

"We're not looking for all of those families to have a volunteer. We decided to target families where the issues are neglect and emotional abuse. We're screening out sexual or physical abuse at the moment," says Julie Daly, who is responsible for Bromley Council's child protection service.

And not all of the suitable families will want to take part. She says:"This is a voluntary arrangement with the families as well. It's a case of 'here is something we can offer you, are you willing to take up this offer?' Not every family is going to say yes. There will be some for whom it feels appropriate and some for whom it doesn't."

She is very keen to stress that the project will not replace other services. "This isn't a statutory service and this does not take away the responsibility and role of the social worker and other statutory agencies. It's an additional service. There's a range of other services and this will be seen as part of that menu."

Volunteers will not be expected to make regular reports to statutory agencies or to give their opinions on whether things are improving in the family.

In terms of specific attributes, obviously the volunteers need to be non-judgmental, but they also need to have some experience of raising a family. Given this requirement, together with the time commitment involved in the scheme, the likely source of volunteers would be expected to be older, retired people. Apparently this isn't the case, it is people studying, or thinking about studying, social work who have shown the most interest.

"It's a very different sort of volunteering. A lot of older people will volunteer to run charity shops and do stuff in hospitals. We're talking about something here that potentially has a lot more emotional content. You've got to be aware of the issues you might be coming into contact with," says Daly.

Those behind the Bromley project may be passionate about its potential benefits, but do others share their optimism? Some have questioned whether the project could be an extra burden for social workers, but Ian Johnston, director of the British Association of Social Workers, says most would welcome it.

"There's too much for social workers to do to be precious about things. Children and families where there are child protection issues have lots of other needs, and the more attention they can get and the more resources you can bring to bear to support them the better. Social work is about mobilising resources to help people, not about doing it yourself all the time," he says.

However, volunteers should not be required to do things beyond their capabilities, he says, warning that there is a danger volunteers could end up carrying out the social worker role. Using volunteers in children's services where there is a shortage of social workers would be wrong. "Any attempt to do that would be denying people the proper protection that you get from skilled workers," he says.

Needless to say, this is not the intention of the project and many feel that such fears are unfounded. David Booker, head of volunteer development at Barnardo's, says that volunteers will not be able to take over the work of social workers because of the legal framework governing child protection work.

Instead, what volunteers have to offer is their life experience and flexible approach. "Volunteers often get more time to visit and help people. Volunteers are often able to provide a service and support at times when professionals are not available," he says.

However, it goes without saying that volunteers need to be properly prepared and supported, and that an in-depth risk assessment is crucial to prevent situations where they are without adequate training and back up.


Booker sees "no reason at all" why volunteers could not carry out this role, and thinks that eventually it could be extended to other families where there are sexual and physical abuse issues.

Given the intensity of the relationship that the volunteer is likely to build up with the family, it is crucial that they can access emotional support. Andy Forster, head of policy at volunteer development agency Volunteering England suggests a supervision structure where volunteers can talk one-to-one with a volunteering manager. In addition, he says that group meetings could be useful for volunteers to share not only their experiences, but also any strategies they have developed.

Most people are aware of the risks faced by lone workers, and monitoring would be useful to record who is going where. "Volunteers are very vulnerable and may be exposed to a degree of risk. Who is going to be taking liability for that risk?" asks Forster.

What the volunteers will be doing is "perilously" close to the tasks undertaken by trained professionals, but providing they can offer something extra he believes that the project has potential. And something extra that volunteers can offer as a group is undoubtedly diversity.

"Most paid professionals in the social work and community care field don't necessarily come from the community they are supporting. Volunteers can do that," he says.

It's impossible to predict how many volunteers will eventually come forward to take part in this project, and it's even harder to guess how many will last the course. It's difficult to argue against any initiative designed to improve the support of children and young families in need. But nonetheless, the same question keeps on popping up: won't the volunteers merely be doing what, in an ideal world, social workers would have the time to do?

Staff selection and management

Good practice guidelines for using volunteers in vulnerable situations.

Recruitment of volunteers

• Have a clear and consistent recruitment policy.
• Volunteers should not be recruited as a substitute for paid staff.
• They should not perform tasks or provide services that are the legal responsibility of someone else.
• They should only be recruited where staff agree to the arrangement and welcome them.
• They should be recruited from a broad cross section of the community.
• There should be commitment to recruit volunteers who live locally.
• Out-of-pocket expenses should be reimbursed.
• Select volunteers with as much care as you would paid staff.

Training

• Must start before volunteers have a responsibility to service users.
• In-service training should also be considered.
• A training programme that includes all of the stakeholders including volunteers, paid staff and service users is most effective.
• Offer training and information on important issues such as the formal mechanisms for reporting concerns, record keeping, and health and safety.

Supervision

• Should be formal and recognised with decisions recorded and action taken.
• Disciplinary and grievance procedure
• Try to resolve problems before formal procedures are needed. Volunteers should be given training and guidance to improve their performance.
• Volunteers with a grievance need to show that they have raised the matter before the formal process can be invoked.

Source: Volunteering England

American model

The California Alliance for Prevention is a child abuse prevention programme that began in 2000. It uses 379 "AmeriCorps members", who are recruited from the communities they serve.  

They provide child abuse prevention services via home visits or family resource centres, which are "one-stop shops" where children and families can access a range of services.  

The people targeted by the initiative includes families where there is a teenage mother, substance misuse, or domestic violence. 

During its second year there was a 69 per cent reduction in child abuse and neglect during the programme and a 44 per cent reduction after the programme had been completed. In addition, more than $10m (£5.6m)of child welfare services were saved.  

Each home visitor was assigned between 15 and 20 cases. More than 12,500 home visits were carried out, with 2,176 families being served. The average time for a home visit was 51 minutes. Supervision was carried out by social workers. 

Eighty-six per cent of the AmeriCorps members were female and nearly half were in their 20s; 19 per cent were over the age of 40. 

Source: The California Alliance for Prevention: Second Year Report, March 2003