January 2009 Archives

   by Daniel Lombard

Following the conclusion of the trial of the carers of Baby P, The Sun led a major campaign against the social workers who worked with the child. In an open letter to the newspaper Daniel Lombard asks its editor, Rebekah Wade, to rethink its agenda on social work issues, which could ultimately damage child protection efforts and children's social work overall.

Sign our petition on the Downing Street website.

A report published last month by the Care Leavers' Association highlighted how hundreds of children being looked after by local authorities go missing each year, and the increased dangers this poses for this vulnerable group.

by Mark Ivory


It was the last howl of those great beasts of social care's jungle, Dame Denise Platt and Paul Snell, respectively chair and chief inspector at the Commission for Social Care Inspection.  As co-authors of the last ever State of Social Care report from the CSCI, they might have sounded fiercer and more frightening than they actually did.  Lesser animals did not flee in terror as they were told in remarkably measured tones about the slow progress in the policy of personalisation, nor did they quake as CSCI's soon-to-be successor, the Care Quality Commission, was reminded that there's this thing called social care and that it had better pay attention to it.  Somehow, astonishingly, the earth remained in its orbit.

By Emma Maier

 By Derren Hayes

The huge rise in knife crime announced today http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7844455.stm should come as little surprise.

  By Natalie Valios

Any one who has ever had to deal with the death of a much loved pet will know how devastating it is. Non pet owners might not realise that it really can be like grieving for a family member. 

By Emma Maier

The Association of Directors of Social Work, which represents senior social workers in Scotland, has signed a one-year deal with a PR firm to run a public information campaign telling people what social services does. I'll be very interested to see what they come up with and how it goes. But in the meantime, it reminded me of a similar exercise by a group of charities in Scotland a few years back.

Ofsted says the struggling department has made "significant and rapid progress" under management introduced in 2007 by ministers after concerns emerged about children's safety.

writes Bronagh Miskelly


It will not come as much of a surprise to learn that the Valuing People Now strategy and delivery documents hold little in the way of surprises.

The priorities for the next three years have been heavily trailed - so, as expected, health, advocacy, transport, individual budgets and access to work, leisure and relationships all have a place.

By Maria Ahmed, Deputy News Editor

'Learning the lessons' has become the tragic cliché of social work. This worn-out language always emerges when there is a child death, somehow dampening the impact of every fresh incident. Of late, you wonder if anyone is listening, even post-Climbie and now post-Baby P, especially in the case of Doncaster.

by Bronagh Miskelly

In the oft repeated sketch John Cleese was upper class, Ronnie Barker middle class and Ronnie Corbett lower class. These were self-declared positions, based in part on height, but who decides what class an individual is in?

writes Bronagh Miskelly

The three published serious case reviews that make up part of the seven serious child protection incidents that have prompted the independent inquiry into Doncaster Council's children's services department reveal, yet again, the failings of the serious case review system - as well as the impact of poor local leadership.

writes Mark Ivory

Disabled people have been promised more control over the support they receive from the Department for Work and Pensions. The hope is that a few spurts of personalisation air freshener will clear away the stale fug of DWP paternalism as it pilots individual budgets combining Access to Work, Independent Living Fund and other money.

 by Anabel Unity Sale

Women, can you imagine returning to work less than five days after having your first child? By caesarean. At the age of 43.

writes Emma Maier


The economic downturn will make 2009 a difficult year. And few places more so than in social care. 

  By Natalie Valios

My new year's resolution to remain calm in the face of stories that start my blood boiling has just come to an abrupt end. Perusing the Guardian's education website I came across the news that a new primary school in Sheffield won't be calling itself a school. Instead it will be called Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning.