Social workers' salaries have been a hot topic on CareSpace for the past couple of weeks. On one thread, the discussion has focused on whether or not social workers deserve to be paid more or less than other public sector staff. A central question seems to be, should pay be assessed according to the risk involved in the job?
Care services minister Phil Hope and children's minister Baroness Morgan will give the government's response to the Social Work Task Force report at a special Community Care conference next Thursday.
Social Work Task Force and Beyond: Rising to the Challenges will provide the first opportunity to discuss the findings of the taskforce's long-awaited final report.
Quick straw poll: Has the delivery of frontline adult social care services remained high on the agenda for your organisation, despite the economic crisis?
A large majority (84%) of social care workers and managers at the Transforming the Adult Social Care Workforce: Putting People First conference in London on Tuesday said yes.
Tim Yeo, Conservative MP for South Suffolk, has accused Suffolk Council of "kidnapping" newly born babies in cases where the birth parents do not wish to give them up for adoption.
Writing ahead of last night's adjournment debate on the adoption and custody of children in Suffolk, Yeo expressed "deep concerns" about the council's adoption practices.
Two children's homes in Swansea could close under plans to restructure the council's child and family services.
The department is expected to have a £6.5m overspend this financial year, with nearly half relating to children in the council's care.
Read more on this story on the BBC's website
Gordon Brown to apologise to former child migrants: Care leavers charity wants more apologies from UK government
As reported by World News Australia, Gordon Brown is to issue a formal apology next year to thousands of Brits who were put into care as children and sent to Australia, Canada and other former colonies as the result of 20th-century child migrant programs.
As many as 150,000 British children may have been shipped abroad under the programs, which operated until 1967.
by Daniel Lombard
It was Saturday night in Bedford, and the room was filled with gyrating bodies dressed in dinner jackets and dresses. My first taste of the Social Worker of the Year awards, and as the guests let their hair down to put talk about low morale in social work behind them, the mood of celebration was tangible.
But not everyone was happy.
"I can't believe I'm here and missing the X Factor!!" said one lady who had travelled with colleagues from an adult social work team in the North East.
A national college of social work is being mooted as a "fresh start" for the profession, but questions remain about where this will leave the British Association of Social Workers.
At BASW's "taking back our profession" rally in London yesterday, the unifying support for a college was apparent.
Today: Carers of gifted children; mother charged over baby's death and DCSF's segmentation of children and young people
Today we have Ofsted reports, bits and pieces from the youth justice annual conference and an advice line for scottish foster carers
David Cameron praises his "brilliant" social worker while taking part in a moving and frank BBC documentary about the realities of caring for disabled children
When both the PM and the leader of the opposition have parented a disabled child - Cameron lost his son Ivan, who had epilepsy and cerebral palsy in February - the future should, in theory, be bright(er) for disabled children and their families.
But a revealing, moving and non-judgemental 50 minutes of television last night begged to differ, showing that many parents of disabled children don't feel optimistic. At all.
This week I spoke to DJ, TV presenter and I'm a Celebrity star Toby Anstis about his struggle to come to terms with being adopted, why he's backing Action for Children's call for more adoptive parents and why he won't be doing any more reality tv...
This week is National Adoption Week 2009. Action for Children has been tweeting updates on events and media coverage.
Adoption Week: Q&A with Heart FM DJ Toby Anstis
Adopted together:
More support for adoptive parents:
"A huge amount of thought and consideration goes into adopting any child, but especially sibling groups or those who have experienced early trauma. They need extra love and support. It's not always easy, but there are people out there who can do it. Those parents need a lot of support, and I'm not convinced there's enough out there, either through the decision making process or after care."
The Department of Health is celebrating the success of its Dignity in
Care campaign which has so far attracted 10,000 Dignity Champions. The
department credits the rise in applications to be champions to the
involvement of Sir Michael Parkinson who has spearheaded the call for
volunteers. 
by Daniel Lombard
Hilton Dawson seems to think so, and has written to health secretary Andy Burnham to ask why social workers haven't been included in the priority groups for the programme.
The chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers raised concerns that practitioners could contract swine flu during the current pandemic and unwittingly spread it among service users during home visits.
by Molly GarbodenThis has happened to me before. I'm presently sat at home typing this rather than in the office because in my attempt to be Kobe Bryant I ended up sprawled on the floor clutching a badly sprained ankle. That's not what has happened before though. 
Moves by the House of Lords to decriminalise child prostitution have failed.
Today: Rise in number of children reporting sexual assaults by women to Childline; BBC West Midlands investigates parents with learning disabilities fighting to keep their children.
Liverpool
However, when you compare this to the national average of 11.8 days of sick leave taken by social workers in 2008, it doesn't seem so shocking.
This week is the UK's 12th annual National Adoption Week.
The theme this year is 'the adoption gap' which organisers say represents the gap between the types of children adopters want and the types of children waiting to be adopted. The week aims to change attitudes and open minds so that difficult to place children - such as sibling groups, older children and disabled children - find happy homes.
Ofsted has said it will revise its frameworks for inspecting the children's social care remits over the coming 12 to 18 months. The inspection body said changes will involve developing new inspection frameworks for children's homes, residential family centres, fostering, adoption, local authority private fostering arrangements and the welfare provision in boarding schools and residential special schools.
Justice secretary Jack Straw has been forced to defend the Office of the Public Guardian and the Court of Protection following media attacks on the two institutions, whose role is to protect the interests of those who lack capacity.
It may sound a dry topic but the financial modelling underpinning the government's green paper - or rather the non-appearance of said modelling - has all of a sudden become the hottest issue in adult social care at the moment.
The shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, Caroline Spelman, has ignited the debate over the quality of care delivered to those with muscular dystrophy. She criticised the government saying many in her constituency had trouble getting access to various therapies from the "overstretched, unco-ordinated" services.
by Adam McCullochA couple that sent a letter to the BBC criticising assisted suicide laws have been found dead. They said in their letter to the broadcaster that they could no longer attain the quality of life they desired.
Family courts are beginning to open up to the public and the media after repeated criticism they are not transparent enough.
On any given day on the internet you can find a whole load of tweets,
blogs or news about the grooviest gadgets. They all have one thing in
common - they look sexy. Care products on the other hand, don't. Review: Panorama goes on the frontline with Coventry's child protection team looking at the challenges social workers face
BBC, Monday 2 November
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The essential attributes for those advising the government on bodies such as the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs are expertise and independence of any political party. Such bodies are only useful if they review the science around the issue with an understanding greater than lay people (including politicians).The Social Work blog covers the challenges facing Britain’s 2m-strong social care workforce: everything from pay and working conditions to stress and the latest social work conduct cases. |
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Community Care Inform is a subscription-based online reference tool from the publishers of Community Care magazine for social care professionals working with children, young people and their families. For more information click Here. |
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