just wondered how many restrictions are in place for using the valid services of volunteers in child protection teams. There is a glut of newly qualified social workers seeking employment who at the same time are volunteering their valid support to child protection teams - a double benefit in terms of the NQSW gaining some statutory experiernce but a benefit to hard pressed front line teams. Obstalces or welcoming support?
Not sure why we would support using qualified staff for no pay or just expenses Hamlet, as a volunteer you could, after CRB checks supervise contact or transport children, shadow SWs but how would that really do more than just add a few bodies to the team?
I refer to the recent article in community care on November 29th. See below:
A project using volunteers in child protection cases has seen risk levels for children decrease in more than three-quarters of cases new research has shown.
The research by Anglia Ruskin University on the use of child protection volunteers in Southend since March 2010 found that in 87% of cases the levels of risk had decreased as indicated by child assessment framework (CAF) levels.
Of the 64 families involved in the project, including 37 on child protection plans, 11 had been removed from child protection plans altogether while seven families reported improved school attendance.
We are constantly approached by NQSWs who cannot find work but who seek statutory volunteering experiences to show on their CVs. There is also a chance that a position might become available in one of the Teams which they could successfully apply for if they have proved their worth.
I am curious how this works in practice really. I am in my third year and very aware that I may find it difficult to find the NQSW job I thought i would fall into upon graduation. Volunteering in a stat team is something I am considering at the moment. Does anyone know if adult care or LD services would be interested in volunteers? How do you go about approaching a team to suggest this? Do you recieve supervision/training and support as any employee would?
Sorry to hijack the post, I'm afraid I don't have anything to add to the original post other than I think it is a great way of providing NQSW with continuing experience and relevant work, whilst supporting stretched services. Do I think it should be unpaid? Nope, not at all, but if that's what I have to do to increase my chances of getting the job I have trained hard for...then that's what I will do. Will just have to obtain some paid work somewhere to do at the same time :-\
This is interesting, some local authorities (Bromley, Lewisham, Southend, Coventry) have been using a charity scheme called Community Service Volunteers to match volunteers to families on CP plans and it has been found to reduce the numbers of children going into care (CYPNow 29Nov-12Dec). They appear to work as a kind of informl intensive family intervention as each volunteer works with only one family.
At the same time other local authorities (Westminster, Hull, Blackpool) have been piloting the Government's 'Family Champions' under the Working Families Everywhere scheme. However although this scheme is supposed to use volunteers all of the pilot areas are using paid workers! (CYPNow 1-14Nov).
Neither of these schemes have the volunteers working as part of children's services, they are a seperate project working with the same families. I think that these would be a better option for unemployed NQSW (not as good as getting a SW job obviously) because they offer the opportunity for ongoing direct work in a focussed way with clients. You would gain skills that would be very attractive to a potential employer.
What you are suggesting is a type of unpaid work experience which I don't think would be as beneficial as you would just get all the rubbish jobs and would not really get the opportunity to work one to one with families at all. The main stumbling block would be that the local authority would have to develop a volunteering policy for the department that was going to use volunteers considering issues around confidentiallity, liability and suchlike. Unless the authority happened to have a pre-existing policy it may well take them over a year to develop one!
There is already a thread about this very issue.......the problem I can see is that students already bring the skills of direct work with families and what they really need is the statutory bit, ICS, input, care plans, process and so on.
I think what very often happens is that volunteers work alongside the sw in implementing the plan and can become so accommodating with the family that the sw-who holds case responsibility; is undermined by the volunteer 'friend'. Not speaking for adults, but as a sw, in children's services, you build a relationship, but it's a very tricky balance because you do have to challenge, impart bad news etc. A volunteer role is completely different to managing c.p., so the volunteer would still have to re-learn a different and more challenging role when they were employed.
Far better that befriending services are provided by the Voluntary Sector to maintain clear lines of Case Responsibility.
This could be great but I would imagine the reality could become very messy.
In Family Support teams perhaps this would be appropriate, but within a cp framework expectations/accountability need to be crystal clear on both sides.
Working on one of the LA which have Volunteers in Child Protection (from CSV) I can state that:
- due to the recrtuiment process we do not have issues of volunteers colluding with families
-volunteers have clear and measurable tasks and so this is not a befriending role
- the LA monitors outcomes so we can see whether it is an effective project
- the CSV employees who run the project sit in the same office as fieldwork social workers so although independent they are able to work really closely together
It seems to work really well and is a service which families appear to appreciate as it isn't stigmatising, volunteers can continue to work with families when they no longer have social care intervention which supports them to sustain positive change