Hi,
I'm new on this forum. I'm not a social worker. I am a manager of a supervised contact centre. I am currently studying for a qualification in managing health and social care studies. My final assignment is a research project and I have decided to look into the perception of social work and social workers amongst the wider public.
Specifically, I am interested in whether people who have had direct or indirect contact with social workers whether through professional or family involvement or acquaintance have a different opinion of social workers from people with no experience of them.
I would be interested to hear the thoughts of the members of this forum, any advice, tips of existing research etc.
Thanks
What a massive project there are plenty of people who have had bad experiences but as with most things in life its easier to find the negative rather than positive experiences.
It's hard I know ...but you have to try.....go on
Have attitudes changed over time?
Was the public perception of Social Workers any better thirty or forty years ago?
I have had direct contact with social workers. I believe that my family should have had help, support and advice from a social worker about eleven YEARS before we actually did. But health/medical services failed to advise us that we could benefit from help and support from social services.
When eventually a Social Worker contacted me I remain dissatisfied with his failure to offer the support which it was his duty to provide. He should have made a note in his diary to contact me again three months or so later. But despite a Nurse enquiring about our case about 4 months after he had met me, He never followed up and reviewed the help and support that he could and should have provided.
I will be reluctant to ever accept help from social workers in the future.
Smokey: I have had direct contact with social workers. I believe that my family should have had help, support and advice from a social worker about eleven YEARS before we actually did. But health/medical services failed to advise us that we could benefit from help and support from social services. When eventually a Social Worker contacted me I remain dissatisfied with his failure to offer the support which it was his duty to provide. He should have made a note in his diary to contact me again three months or so later. But despite a Nurse enquiring about our case about 4 months after he had met me, He never followed up and reviewed the help and support that he could and should have provided. I will be reluctant to ever accept help from social workers in the future.
I once found a cigarette end in a steak and kidney pie. Shall I avoid steak and kidney pies in future? Is steak and kidney the right interpretation or should it be all pies or maybe any sort of food is to be avoided.
Maybe you'd do better to avoid people who don't keep their word rather than assume the cause of the problem was social work. I suspect the relevant issue here is unreliability - not the fact that the unreliable person happened to be a social worker.
For example I recently had a problem with someone making unreasonable remarks and refusing to provide any justification for them. Should I then avoid all internet users or just people who don't think their prejudices through?
Cheers,
Stuart
Visit my blog at http://stuartsorensen.wordpress.com/
The Public expects that Social Services will do what it says on the Label.
In actual fact Social Services does NOT do what it says on the Label.
Under the present arrangements Social services is never going to deliver an effective service to those in need.
I'm interested in your tendency to generalise Smokey. So I wonder if you could advise me.
I find that a very hardworking and generally committed group of professional people to which I belong is the target of a barrage of unsubstantiated insults from an internet troll. Should I ignore all internet users or is it better to just write off this particular troll?
What do you think?
I have needed help from Social Workers. I have a disability.
I have not received a good standard of service from any of those social workers in a number of different teams. None of them have complied with regulations or codes of practice.
I am giving my opinion, based on the poor service which has been meted out to me.
Smokey: I will be reluctant to ever accept help from social workers in the future.
aren't you a social worker then ?
You can only speak for yourself Smokey.
My brother has a profound disability and was known to Children's Services from birth and continues to receieve social work support from Adult Services.
My family are a resilient hard working bunch but until my brother came along they had no experience of disability and it knocked us all sideways. We had a fantastic social worker who did loads of emotional support and theraputic stuff with my parents and she also did a lot of work with me (I was just a nipper, this was the late 80s). As he got older the same social worker did loads of work around identifying a suitable education placement, my parents disagreed with the education authority and our social worker advocated very strongly on our behalf, got us the outcome we wanted and was generally very fab and very lovely. She also encouraged my Mam to get involved in participation groups and as a result my Mam became a big activisit and has contriubted more to social care in my area than most professionals.
Adult Services have been a bit more hit and miss, social workers keep coming and going but generally the service is still of an acceptable level. Despite his complex communication difficulties and learning disability my brother is always party to his assessments, plans, reviews etc. As a result he is accessing a range of services which genuinely meet his needs. He is a very happy, outgoing, sociable young man and I dont think he'd be as half as confident as he is without the social work input he's had.
Im now a social worker myself, on a Children with disabilities Team. My work is very well recieved and I have good relationships with pretty much all my families, even the ones in the Child Protection arena.
Not all clients with disabilities are as disgruntled as yourself.
i've heard some belters over the years.
ultra PC.
hemp wearing.
socialist.
no common sense.
feel free to use the statements in your increasingly bizzare posts smokey.
nojoble: My final assignment is a research project and I have decided to look into the perception of social work and social workers amongst the wider public.
My final assignment is a research project and I have decided to look into the perception of social work and social workers amongst the wider public.
you only have to look at the media to see what the publics perception of social workers is. Hardly anyone has a good word to say about us, this makes me feel extremey sad as I know there's a lot of committed, hard working social workers out there who do their ultimate best (often with no support or resources) to make outcomes better for children.
Sadly there is no respect for the profession anymore
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1232611/Mother-boy-snatched-social-workers-refusing-doctors-advice-feed-chocolate-crisps.html
i think this recent article and the ensuing comments shows exactly how a lot of the public see us :(