Three years after they were proposed in the government's Care Matters white paper, the UK's first independent social work practices are now up and running.
Over the past three months, five councils in England taking part in the government-funded pilots have transferred responsibility for more than 1,000 looked-after children and care leavers to external bodies run by social workers and charities.
Staffordshire Council is testing the professional practice model, where social workers formerly employed by the authority have set up their own not-for-profit organisation in which they all have a stake.
Kent Council chose a model involving voluntary sector groups, and have a contract for services with children's charity Catch22.
The government will monitor the progress of the pilots – the other areas are Hillingdon, Liverpool, Blackburn with Darwen, and Sandwell, where the launch has been delayed – before deciding whether to adopt the system nationally in 2012-13.
Community Care asked two of the teams how they planned to fulfil the scheme's twin objectives of reducing staff turnover and increasing the stability of the child-social worker relationship.
Watch the video below to find out what social worker Paula Beesley thinks about life in a social work practice.
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