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Doncaster Council and social work's conflicting solutions

by Emma Maier Doncaster Council's improvement plan is based on eliminating unallocated cases, reducing staff vacancies to 7%, and improving caseloads, supervision and training. The targets may be ambitious, but the underlying issues continue to be...

Published 9 Jun 2009 11:42 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Doncaster Council, Emma Maier, social work

Time to talk yourselves up

writes Emma Maier Press coverage and various events and inquiries in recent months have focused minds inside and outside social work on what is wrong with the profession. But it is important not to lose sight of what is right - and that clients are largely...

Published 20 May 2009 1:31 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: channel 4, Emma Maier, excellence network, social work, the guardian

Get the message out there

By Emma Maier The Social Work Task Force this week bemoaned the lack of a national voice representing the social work profession. The theme resonates with the results of Community Care's in-depth study of newspaper coverage of social work. Our analysis...

Published 12 May 2009 4:30 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Emma Maier, media coverage, Social Work Task Force

Is government standing up for social work?

By Emma Maier This week David Behan, social care chief at the Department of Health, called on directors and social workers to stand up for themselves and stop "playing victims" in the face of public criticism. The wording may sound a bit harsh...

Published 23 Apr 2009 10:08 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: department of children schools and families, Department of Health, Emma Maier, Media, stand up now for social work

Directors must lead by example

By Emma Maier I spent yesterday at the ADASS Spring Seminar - I have to say that I was really encouraged by the support among directors for our Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign and its aim of getting positive images of social work into the media...

Published 23 Apr 2009 9:33 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Emma Maier, Media, stand up now for social work

Social workers left unsupported as they reach breaking point

The findings from Community Care 's latest exclusive research issue a significant challenge to adults' and children's services directors, government and the Social Work Taskforce. The survey of 450 social workers paints a picture of the frontline...

Published 21 Apr 2009 11:30 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Emma Maier, General Social Care Council, gscc, profession, social workers, supervision, workforce

Who's really responsible

By Emma Maier The latest developments in the Baby P case once again emphasise the complexity of the situation. Haringey Council has dismissed an agency practitioner and suspended two staff social workers "for not dealing with their workloads appropriately"...

Published 20 Apr 2009 10:43 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, Emma Maier, Haringey Council

Poll brings good news

By Emma Maier The Local Government Association recently polled 1,000 members of the public to reveal their perceptions of social work after the Baby P case. The results were surprisingly encouraging. Read More...

Published 1 Apr 2009 3:20 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, Doncaster Council, Emma Maier, Local Government Association, polls, stand up now for social work

Community Care meets The Sun

By Emma Maier I have a confession to make. I spent yesterday evening with a senior journalist from The Sun . And he wasn't all bad. Read More...

Published 1 Apr 2009 9:56 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, child protection, Emma Maier, Media, stand up now for social work, The Sun

GSCC decision could affect Baby P social workers

By Emma Maier The GSCC's latest decision highlights an important issue about where accountability lies for child protection actions taken by multi-agency teams. In doing so, it sets a precendent that could have implications for the conduct hearings...

Published 30 Mar 2009 5:13 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, child protection, conduct, Emma Maier, General Social Care Council, gscc, Media, multi-agency, multi-disciplinary, stand up now for social work

The time to say sorry

by Emma Maier This week's report from the ombudsmen for local government and the health service shines a light onto services for people with learning disabilities. It concludes that failures in six cases directly caused suffering and a death. Read...

Published 24 Mar 2009 12:25 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Department of Health, Emma Maier, Healthcare Commission

Beware: Sun radio

By Emma Maier I kid you not. The Sun is apparently launching a radio station. What does this mean for social workers, who are, as we well know, the paper's favourite cannon fodder? Read More...

Published 19 Mar 2009 3:14 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Emma Maier, Media, The Sun

Laming's most used word: 'Children'

by Emma Maier Having spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon reading the recommendations from Lord Laming's report , I wondered if there was a quick way to get an overview of what he said. So I used a useful online tool to run an analysis of the...

Published 13 Mar 2009 2:38 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, child protection, children's services, Emma Maier, Laming inquiry

Setting The Sun straight

By Emma Maier As part of Community Care 's Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign -which is calling for more suport for social workers from the media, government and employers - we have been keeping an eye close eye on how the media reports social...

Published 11 Mar 2009 12:27 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Emma Maier, Media, stand up now for social work, The Sun

We all need to stand up for social work

By Emma Maier You have told Community Care that you have had enough of inaccurate, misleading and hostile media coverage of social work - and we agree. We've launched the Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign to fight back and show the public what...

Published 11 Mar 2009 12:09 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, Emma Maier, Media, stand up now for social work, The Sun

Use delay to best effect

by Emma Maier News that the publication of the final report of the Social Work Taskforce will be delayed until October did not come as a surprise. The original timetable, to report in the summer, was always ambitious - particularly since the taskforce...

Published 4 Mar 2009 3:42 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Emma Maier, Social Work Taskforce

The Sun - mis-informed or wilfully inaccurate?

By Emma Maier The Sun newspaper continues to blunder through it's coverage of the Baby P case - the latest development, according to the Sun , is that the General Medical Council has SUSPENDED the child's family GP but that social worker STILL...

Published 20 Feb 2009 10:11 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, Emma Maier, Media, The Sun

Dementia and means-testing

By Emma Maier In an interview for Radio 4's Today programme this morning , journalist John Suchet gave a moving insight into caring for his wife, who has dementia. During the programme, Imelda Redmond, chief executive of Carers UK , also raised the...

Published 17 Feb 2009 9:42 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, Emma Maier

Serious case reviews: learning not blaming

By Emma Maier The Baby P case was sad for many reasons. One that hasn't featured much in the media is particularly poignant for the social work profession: that the case followed another with chilling similarities. Had the lessons from that case been...

Published 16 Feb 2009 5:31 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Aaron Gilbert, Baby P, child protection, Emma Maier, safeguarding, serious case review, serious case reviews

Publish reviews in full

writes Emma Maier Shadow children's minister Tim Loughton and fellow Conservative Les Lawrence, cabinet member for children's services in Birmingham, have made a tentative deal to publish in full all future serious case reviews into child abuse...

Published 11 Feb 2009 12:50 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: child abuse, child protection, Emma Maier

Love the snow? Try sleeping in it...

By Emma Maier The snow is beginning to melt at ComCare's offices, but one thing that will stay with me long after the big thaw is a simple yet hard hitting campaign from homelessness charity Crisis. Read More...

Published 5 Feb 2009 1:55 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Emma Maier, homelessness, snow, voluntary sector

Children's services no subject for political point scoring

By Emma Maier I suppose it was only a matter of time before the horror of the Baby P case subsided sufficiently for politicians to want to use children's services as a political football. Today it happened. This week's culprit? Ed Balls . Read...

Published 3 Feb 2009 4:15 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, child protection, children's services, ed balls, Emma Maier, politicians, Politics

Is social care a more attractive career in the credit crunch?

By Emma Maier An interesting interview on the BBC website about a coal miner turned care worker reminded me of a conversation we had in the ComCare office recently. We were wondering whether more people were entering the social care workforce after being...

Published 29 Jan 2009 2:41 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: care home, care worker, credit crunch, Emma Maier, workforce

Lord Laming's caseload

writes Emma Maier This week's news pages show several recent predictions ringing true. A Unison poll found soaring caseloads, complex child protection cases given to inexperienced staff and vacancy problems. A union rep in Haringey said coverage of...

Published 28 Jan 2009 9:31 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, child protection, Emma Maier

Dear Deidre, are you the right person for the Social Work Taskforce?

By Emma Maier The government has announced the members of the Social Work Taskforce , including The Sun 's agony aunt Deirdre Saunders. When I saw the news it made me think back, with a shudder, to the press conference that Ed Balls held about the...

Published 26 Jan 2009 11:27 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Emma Maier, Media, press, Social Work Taskforce, social workers, workforce

Do we need an awareness campaign explaining social work?

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...

Published 21 Jan 2009 9:58 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, Campaign, Emma Maier, Media, social workers, voluntary sector, workforce

What's wrong with being autistic?

by Emma Maier "What's wrong with being autistic?" It's not an offering from Prince Harry's best book of bad taste joke jokes. It's one of those knockout observations from a child's unclouded mind. Read More...

Published 12 Jan 2009 11:01 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Autism, Emma Maier, pre-natal screening

Taskforce turning point

writes Emma Maier The economic downturn will make 2009 a difficult year. And few places more so than in social care. Read More...

Published 8 Jan 2009 1:56 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: adult services, Emma Maier, Social Work Taskforce, workforce

Human rights in the dock

by Emma Maier Concerns have again surfaced that the appeals process for Independent Safeguarding Authority decisions to bar people from working with children and vulnerable adults may be incompatible with the right to a fair trial under the Human Rights...

Published 3 Dec 2008 11:38 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: David Pearl, Emma Maier, human rights

What the media made of the Baby P case

By Emma Maier All but two of the main national newspapers (The Independent and the Daily Mail) ran front page stories on Wednesday about the death of Baby P , the 17-month-old boy who suffered more than 50 injuries, including a broken spine, caused by...

Published 13 Nov 2008 9:34 AM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: Baby P, child protection, Emma Maier, Media, social work, social workers, television programme

Brooke's timely message

by Emma Maier Outgoing General Social Care Council chair Rodney Brooke used his final interview with Community Care to set a tough challenge for government, his successor - and the whole social care sector. His key message is straightforward: service...

Published 5 Nov 2008 1:58 PM by The Social Work Blog

Filed under: CSCI, Emma Maier, gscc, national minimum standards, Rodney Brooke, Service users

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