The roar of a jet engine fills the air as a plane flies over, heading for nearby Heathrow. Hounslow's proximity to one of the world's busiest airports has proved handy over the past year, providing easy access to the borough for social workers who have been recruited from the US.
To date, the London Borough of Hounslow has hired 43 US social workers for its children and families and mental health teams, following recruitment events in Los Angeles, Boston and New York in the past year.
In Los Angeles the council recruited five children and families social workers and one mental health social worker out of a shortlist of 21; in Boston 13 of the 18 shortlisted children and families social workers were hired; and in New York, where 43 social workers were shortlisted, eight are joining mental health teams and 16 children and families teams.
UK local authorities are increasingly having to come up with
innovative ways to attract staff. So does going overseas in search
of practitioners solve the vacancy problem and once they are over
here, how easy is it for social workers from the US to adapt to
life in the UK?
The Americans:
Eileen Davis-Taylor
Eileen Davis-Taylor cuts a striking figure as she drives through Hounslow. Aged 59 she is African-American, bedecked in silver jewellery and with bleached blonde hair. Before becoming a social worker she provided administrative support for the commander of Nato, a job which took her to Germany and Holland, and before that she owned a hair and beauty salon.
Originally from Boston, she has worked for the past 12 years as a social worker in Manhattan, New York, working in nearly every discipline. In February, she began working for one of Hounslow's children and families teams, as she was keen to work in London and explore the differences between US and British social work practice. So interested is she, Davis-Taylor is currently applying to universities to do a PhD in social work, with this issue in mind for her thesis. (She already has a bachelor degree and a masters in social work, is a US state-certified social worker and a certified substance abuse counsellor.)
In her first six months in London, Davis-Taylor saw a key difference between British and US social work: "There are a lot of meetings here. I am used to thinking on my feet and finding solutions. I guess it is part of the uniformity of British culture."
She is also having to adapt to the time it can take for referrals to other services to happen. In the US, because there are very few statutory services available, there tends to be more voluntary agencies available to step in, she says.
In her view, people in the UK rate social work highly and rely
on practitioners' expertise, factors that make her proud to do her
job.
Drew Donato-Parayno
Drew Donato-Parayno's decision to move to the UK and become a children and families worker was sudden. In June he saw an advert on a recruitment website for the hiring event in New York. Despite the short notice he decided to fly to New York on the off-chance that Hounslow would want to interview him in person. His persistence clearly paid off - he was promptly hired and began working in the UK at the end of August.
After living in Los Angeles for 15 years, Donato-Parayno fancied a change. The opportunity arose when he was on holiday in London in May and a friend - a US social worker based in Scotland - told him about the staff shortages in the UK. The 39-year-old jumped at the idea and began to look for work in the capital.
After a career working with people with HIV and with those from Los Angeles' notorious South Central neighbourhood, adapting to the UK has been relatively smooth. He says: "I like to challenge myself and reach my full potential. My main reason for coming here is to do good social work, anything else is just extra."
So did the London bombings, which occurred shortly before his arrival, put him off? "No. I am very passionate about what I do. I love working with children and their families and this passion outweighs any fear that I have."
The thing he enjoys most about being in London is sitting in a park and reading a book; in LA this was impossible to do - "there were no parks!"
The boss:
Susanna White
Hounslow's director of social services, Susanna White, says that the borough chose to recruit social workers from the US because it wanted to recruit overseas practitioners ethically and from countries that would not be damaged by their leaving. It was also important, she adds, for the council to recruit staff who reflected the diversity of its clients.
All of the US social workers are on permanent contracts and have five-year work visas that can be renewed. It has cost Hounslow £4,700 to recruit each US social worker - considerably less than the £19,000 a year it was spending on each agency social worker.
White says that the council has learned one particular lesson: to make sure that staff from the UK do not feel left out or superseded by those from the US. This has been achieved by ensuring that the two-week induction programme has as much detail and information for all staff and does not just favour the US workers.
The Brit:
Julie Shipton
Julie Shipton has worked for Hounslow's social services department since 1976. In this time she has seen many social workers come and go, including professionals from countries such as Australia and South Africa. Shipton is a supervising social worker for the local authority's family placement team, which has just been joined by two US social workers.
So far the experience has been positive, she says, because their core social work values are the same as British practitioners. "It has been good sharing views and experiences and hearing how they work."
Does she believe the team has been enhanced because the social workers come from another country? "It doesn't make any difference that they are American. Any input of different ideas is useful - it makes you more aware of your own practice."
The recruiters:
Christine Beran and Sallie Mercer
Helping to recruit American social workers for Hounslow were Christine Beran Hounslow Council's human resources manager, and Sallie Mercer, care management and looked-after children service manager.
Hounslow worked with a recruitment agency, TMM, which set up the recruitment events in the US and helped to shortlist candidates to be interviewed in person.
Beran, who worked as a social worker for 11 years, looked out for people's motivation to move to the UK and their ability to adapt to a challenging working environment.
Mercer, who went to the Boston recruitment session, says that although American social workers abide by different laws, she could spot if they knew their child protection practice, and was impressed by some candidates who had read up on the Children Act 1989 in preparation.
