Rarely out of the news, high profile Task Force, interest from the main Parties, some proposed directions for the future; will 2009 prove to have been a watershed for Social Work?
Or will it all die down and carry on "as before" amidst 2010's cuts, climate and electioneering?
I think 2009 has been important in that it has highlighted the crisis situation that social work has been in for too long in such a way as can no longer be ignored by those with the power to bring about real changes.
However, I think 2010 has the potential to actually be the watershed year for social work. Whether it vastly improves- or worsens- the situation, will depend on who is elected to government this year, and the action they choose to take on the evidence and recommendations of the taskforce. The way those recommendations are handled/ implemented could be the make or break point of the profession.
I think 2009 has been a watershed for our society as a whole in may respects. Social Work was bound to be one of the aspects - if things were different in the society there is no knowing whether all this hype around Social Work would have been created in the first place. I think it was just one of the ways in which society cried out that people want to feel safe, with all the political, economical and environmental turmoil. It's left to see if the society will now be prepared to fork out the price for what it requested from us - the inevitable budget cuts suggest to me it is not. Darn shame that the climate deal has not been struck. It's one more worry to carry forward in 2010. And when the world contemplates floods, overheating, starvation etc. in the middle of this we are small fry.