Got home on Friday and my wife told me that Denise the agony aunt had been having a go at social work on 'This Morning'. I had a look on itv-player and saw there was a discussion between Denise and a lady from BASW. She was actually very positive about social workers but had some serious issues with the family courts.
You can still see it on itv-player. Fri 10th Feb about two thirds of the way in (to save you watching through the make-over). Worth viewing if only for Eammon Holmes expecting a Yes/No answer to questions like 'Are children better off in care?'
(Sorry about blank post - forgot that Carespace hates Internet Explorer.)
Ha ha ... not watched it, but love how you comment on Eamon Holmes expecting a Yes/No answer to that question, I'd have been tempted to say Yes, every child should be looked after by the Local Authority with an hour supervised contact in a contact centre.
I felt very sorry for the social worker from BASW during that interview. It seemed Denise and Eamon were 'putting her in a corner', asking leading questions and ones that are impossible (as any social worker will know) to give a closed answer to.
Geez, what do they think we get taught at university? Do they seriously want us to start to judging every case on identical merits?
I acknowledge Denise's point about difficulties families face in court procedings, however this is not the Social Worker's responsibility, that is a legal matter. There remain many challenges for children in the care system, however some children simply cannot live at home and we need a system to deal with that. I'm not saying things are perfect, but they have moved forward massively for Looked After Children in the past two decades. Unfortunatley, one size does not fit all. Just like miscarriages of justice in the criminal courts, families do occasionally find themselves accused of things they may not have done. We simply do what is humanly possible to get to the bottom of investigations and ensure the child's safety and wellbeing.
So thanks Denise, I'm sure you have done wonders for the reputation of Social Care Services, and staff within it. Expect me to write to your problem page in the near future!
I feel quite annoyed after watching that. I thought the BASW woman did a good job. Eamon seemed to come across as quite confrontational, which I found quite uncomfortable to watch. And although Denise did make sure she praised social workers, she was bringing up issues that are beyond social workers' control, to do with how family courts are run. Plus her information is totally anecdotal from the parents who have contacted her. That is not exactly robust evidence.