It sometimes seems that way. A quick look at some of the headlines from local papers today reveals that in Nottingham, a social services chief has had to deny claims that "children are being put in danger because of staff shortages and poor IT."
And in Suffolk and Essex: "Councils say they are working hard to recruit new social workers after
it emerged there were almost 200 vacancies across Suffolk and Essex."
Of course both stories relate to figures recently released by Unison. But I also noticed a third story from Derry in Northern Ireland where "The Journal has learned that Children's Services have over 260 families or children who have been identified as 'at risk' yet no social worker has been allocated."
There seems no doubt that these kind of stories have increased over the past year - but is social work really in a state of crisis, as the stories suggest. Or is it being hyped out of proportion? And has it always been like this - or were there times when everything seemed to be running very smoothly and all the correct resources were in place? I suspect not.
Of course both stories relate to figures recently released by Unison. But I also noticed a third story from Derry in Northern Ireland where "The Journal has learned that Children's Services have over 260 families or children who have been identified as 'at risk' yet no social worker has been allocated."
There seems no doubt that these kind of stories have increased over the past year - but is social work really in a state of crisis, as the stories suggest. Or is it being hyped out of proportion? And has it always been like this - or were there times when everything seemed to be running very smoothly and all the correct resources were in place? I suspect not.
Is social work in a permanent state of crisis?
I think it is, but we should look into why we are here and what could be done. I believe the working environment has a huge impact in recruiting and retaining social workers. And when I say working environment, I include the legislation system as well as political and financial support.
Dorel Puscasu,
Social Worker
There has never been a 'golden age' of social work, that would smack too much of overt simplification. Clearly some reform of practice was required. However the last 12 years has seen the development of an over bureaucratised, centralised target drive culture, which has run parallel with a dumbing down of-independent professional thought across a number of interconnected professions.
I find it absolutely unbelievable that the current government prattles on about 'upskilling' the profession, attracting better qualified graduates ( when many are graduates and post graduates) yet they have presided over the marginalisation of social work, probation, teaching , etc.
It is probably the worst that it has ever been at the moment. I've stayed through most storms and changes over the last 20 years and even though I enjoy working with children and colleagues, I may finally this year jump ship.
the reality is on-one likes a social worker. the fact that we are doing is to help others gets no recogtion and those on the pheriphy just give us abuse. underpaid undervalued and seen as a pain in the arse.well im sick and tired of it and one day when we are saving a kids life from relentless abuse i hope someone stands up 4 us and says thank you instead of the negative crap that we get. im sick and tired of it
Journals continue to ignore the monumental changes in Mental Health over the past two years. I mean, in particular, journals such as Community Care and BASWA.
ASWS, now known as AMHPS, get very little by way of support either from the Local Authority or The Trusts, neither of which truly understand this complex role. The guidelines for supervision and debriefing need a structured format set nationally. It should be a requirement that Management provide support, guidance, mentoring, training and development by a practising practitioner employed in the same locality and whose practice can be evaluated by those they are supervising.
At the present it is open to abuse. In one Trust a Service Manager, no longer a practitioner, hired an ASW from another Borough to carry out supervision. This individual was "supervising" his superiors in status. However, the agenda for "supervision" remained the dictat of the Service Manager but did not include support, guidance and advice with professional development but did meet the OCD needs of the Service Manager.
In a period of 2 years 6 ASWS "disappeared" from this locality. These are practitioners trained at great expense and with significant experience in their area. Only one challenged their constructive dismissal and won a very large sum in compensation.
hi! its okey to feel bad sometimes, but remember we cannot solve all problems. What important is that we have imparted wholehearted amids difficulties for the welfare of the clients that came to us. We should affirmed ourselves in our craft helping other help themselves is not an easy things to do.