Christmas, season of overindulgence, panic shopping and
journalists pontificating on their highlights and lowlights of the
year. While I enjoy pontificating as much as any other journalist I
will on this occasion restrain myself. Instead I will rely on the
collective wisdom of the learned inhabitants of
CareSpace,
the online community for people working in social care, which
enjoyed its first year of existence in 2008.
So what has been on the minds of CareSpace members over the past
year?
Unsuprisingly the most popular discussion topic of the last
twelve months has been the tragic Baby P case and its implications
for social work, in a thread
titled
"The next Victoria Climbie?" The discussion generated well
over 200 comments, often passionate and well argued, railing
against systemic failures, shortfalls in practice and the Sun's
resultant attack on the profession. Here are a couple of quotes
that caught my eye:
Grinch: "If we take a moment and step back from all of the
media hype, the recriminations, and look at the context in which
this kind of risk is managed then apportioning blame on the
individuals (certainly before we know all the facts in the case)
just doesn't sit right with me. When it comes to assessing harm
then it needs to be acknowledged that identifying risk(s), the
process of decision-making, and then establishing the likelihood of
future harm is never easy, clear or straightforward at the time,
and yet when things go wrong hindsight so often makes it all appear
so obvious."
lizzer: "Last night I had to sit my 15 year old son down and
try and explain things to him as it was the second day he came home
from school blaming social workers. The first day I sort of ignored
it as I thought it was an offhand comment that my son makes. He
also has a paper round in the mornings so he can see the front page
of The Sun each day. I think someone needs to get a grip of The Sun
as I do think it may end in vigilante action."
From a very specific response to a particular incident we move
to an issue people have been debating since they first developed
the ability to debate - religion. It started in April as
a plea by a Christian social work student for colleagues to
stop swearing using the words "Jesus" or "Christ" as they found it
offensive:
BBHG: "As a Christian I do find this offensive, though have
never had the courage to say anything. I mentioned this to a
supervisor in supervision and was told that this is MY issue, and
not other people's and that I should accept that I live in a
secular world."
Much heated debate followed and by May the discussion had moved
on to one about respecting individuals but not necessarily their
beliefs. It rumbled into June with issues of censorship under
examination:
Kirst: "Why does your right not to hear me use certain words
outweight my right to use them? Why does my right to use them
outweigh your right not to hear them?"
And by July, contributors were debating the existence of God -
CareSpace members certainly like to get stuck into a weighty
topic.
Social care was hit by another tragic event in April with
the death
of Lancashire social worker Philip Ellison. The incident again
raised the question of safety for social care workers on lone
visits and consideration of how much publicity the case would have
generated if Philip had been a policeman or teacher.
The local government pay round set another popular thread going
in February, with social workers pondering how much they should
claim for the year ahead and whether they would be prepared to join
a strike. Opinions were polarised:
Lins: "I for one will not strike. I did not come into this
profession for the money ( I would be stupid if I had) I came in to
protect children and I can't do this if I am on the picket
line."
kymb21: "I find the offer of 2.45% insulting for the work
that we do (including all the additional hours we put in,
unclaimed), and this would effectively be a pay cut. Even if we
strike, I know that many of my team still go in and do the work,
but at least it would send a message to the government."
A particularly thorny issue reared its head in July with popeye
asking the question:
"So what is an inappropriate relationship with a service
user?"
The GSCC may have thought the issue was clear cut but CareSpace
proved that ordinary social workers certainly did not.
AJT: "What if a worker's existing partner needs a referral
to social wervices? What if a worker meets someone socially away
from work and does not realise they are receiving
services?"
popeye:"I lived and worked in the same area and
within my groups of friends there was a crossover between service
users and service providers. I constantly bump into a service user
in the pub, they were never on my case load but I've been privy to
personal information about them."
Those were the big topics of the year but CareSpace members have
also got stuck into
The Apprentice,
mental health and social work, and
stress. So, if you've never got involved in CareSpace before
why not pay a
visit today?