Have you seen this woman (the one on the left)? Well you
will do on Thursday if you watch Coronation Street.
She is the social worker who is coming to assess whether Kylie and David (no
one ever uses their last name in soap land), get to have Kylie's son, who is
currently in care come to live with them. Tension will undoubtedly be ramped up
to the max.
It'll be interesting to see Corrie's take on the social work profession. So far
it seems it's sticking to stereotype with a fairly dowdy look but has
shattered the mould by leaving the cardigans in the props department - one all.
However, according to Digital
Spy, she also tells them that moving house could be grounds for not
returning to child to its mother. That seems like rather unlikely to me so
maybe she won't be the model of professionalism after all.
Tune in on Thursday to find out what happens *cue Corrie theme*.
Recently in children in care Category
Children's minister Tim Loughton used a speech at the Conservative Party Conference tonight to champion the importance of social workers.
"I have enormous respect for social workers," he said at a fringe event called the Family Room reception hosted by a coalition of charities.
"My job is to free up the time of social workers to enable them to spend more time with families, rather than sitting in front of computers filling in forms," said Loughton.
"It is one of the most supportive speeches of social workers that I've heard from a minister in a long time," said Corinne May-Chahal, interim co-chair of the College of Social Work.
"Tim Loughton came to a fringe event organised by a coalition of children and family voluntary organisations, sponsored by Mothercare, where the focus could have been, as it was at the Labour and Liberal Democrats conference, on the voluntary sector and the Big Society. But Tim Loughton acknowledged the importance of, and spent most of his time talking about, social work."
"He was balanced and knowledgeable and stressed the importance of focusing on evidence-based practice," she added.
Loughton spoke about his week on the frontline with social workers in Stockport.
He described visting a family of four children living in "the worst squalor I have ever seen, with no food, no furniture, four mattresses on the floor and clothes and rubbish everywhere". Loughton told how one of the children had been repeatedly sent home from school with toothache over the last three weeks but the mother had done nothing. Yet, when she got toothache she phoned the emergency dentist on the same day, but didn't think to ask about her son, he explained.
"I told the social worker afterwards that I would have no hestitation taking the children into care, but the problem is the mum dotes on the children and the kids dote on the mum. Social workers really are making the judgements of Solomon," said Loughton.
A residential social worker who failed to inform police an eight-year-old child in her care had run away has been cautioned by the General Social Care Council.
Jillian Outterside was due to collect the child from Paignton Community College, Devon, on 22 February 2008, but left without alerting the local authority, police or college staff to the child's disappearance.
Former Calderdale Council social services chief Rod Ryall has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of indecently assaulting three boys, all under 16, when he was a live-in house master at Aycliffe Approved School in the 1960s and 70s.
Ryall was director of social services in Calderdale from 1974 to 1988. According to local reports, his QC is seeking dismissal of the charges. Read more in the Halifax Evening Courier
The Children's Workforce Development Council has created a new online children's centre on the DirectgovKids website for children, which aims to inform five to 11-year-olds about social workers and foster carers.
It tells children: "There are lots of people whose job it is to help children. ... Some adults work with a child for a short time, supporting them and their families in specific ways."
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.
Moves by the House of Lords to decriminalise child prostitution have failed.Peers voted by 80 to 68 to retain the current position on Friday night.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer tabled an amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill, arguing that child prostitutes should be treated as victims, not criminals.
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.
About the Social Work blog
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. It is written by workforce editor Kirsty McGregor and senior journalist Vern Pitt. |
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How to get in touch
| Email: | Kirsty McGregor |
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