May 2009 Archives

By Bronagh Miskelly

I'm a knitter. Yes, really, despite not being a granny nor living in a commune.

Knitting, crochet and cross-stitch can be seen as a bit of a joke, but as Stitchlinks, a project which combines benefits of these crafts with up-to-date health information to enable people to live fuller lives, reveals such activities can help improve lives.

By Emma Maier

As Joanna Lumley will tell you following her recent success over settlement rights for Gurkhas, individuals can make a difference. And you don't have to be famous either. From universal suffrage to the rejection of animal testing on cosmetics, many legal and societal changes have been a direct result of people power.

Public perceptions of social work are no different. Negative media coverage and low public esteem may seem ingrained. But they can be altered - if enough social workers speak out.

By Natalie Valios

Watch social worker Ajay Bhandari "dance" on Britain's Got Talent at the weekend.

But a group of child protection workers are seizing the initiative with the support of Jim Wilde, a freelance trainer and activist.

writes Mithran Samuel

Councils have made good progress on personalisation, but two stories this week remind us that funding will be crucial. The Low Pay Commission is to probe whether personal assistants hired by service users are receiving the minimum wage.

You'll be delighted to hear about the even-handedness of the Daily Mail's coverage of adoption that two recent stories demonstrate.

Last week, it laid into the British Association for Adoption and Fostering for mistakenly including a quote referring to opponents of gay adoption as "retarded homophobes" in a recent guide (N.B. The offence to disabled people caused by the quote - by a gay adoptive parent - was utterly secondary in the paper's coverage to the offence caused to honourable people who, in good conscience, oppose the adoption of children in care by gay couples).

This week, it has moved on from sexuality to race, with an assault on the view that children do better in adoptive placements when they are matched with families of a similar background.

The headline will come as no surprise:- "The 'family wreckers': Social workers attacked over race rules that rob foster children of a caring home"
 

By Bronagh Miskelly

Mariah Carey has shed her glamourous image to play a dowdy social worker according to the Daily Mail.

By Mithran Samuel

The British Association for Adoption and Fostering has caused a storm by including a quote referring to "retarded homophobes" in an early print run of a publication on gay adoption.

Including the quote from a gay adopter, the charity admits, was a mistake and it has apologised for the error (which was condemned as a 'disgrace' by Mencap) and promised that the main print run of the Pink Guide to Adoption would not include it.

The guide is designed to combat prejudices against gay adoption and encourage same sex couples to consider adoption.

"Retarded" - or any of its variants - is clearly offensive to people with learning disabilities and should not be sullying the pages of any publication, as Baaf clearly recognises.

Mencap's reaction is understandable and correct.

However, the criticisms of Baaf emerging from the front page of today's Daily Mail are far less palatable.

Community Care is calling on everyone to Stand Up Now for Social Work in a bid to breakdown media stereotypes and give a voice to the profession. Now it seems the message is resonating with others as we report a flurry of activity regarding the representation of frontline staff.

Deidre Sanders, The Sun's agony aunt and member of the Social Work Taskforce, has set up a survey to find out what Sun readers think should be changed to get social work "back on its" feet, the paper reports.

But is she asking the right questions?