Plea to Short over role in Iraq rebuild

The ADSS agreed to approach the Department for International
Development about taking a proactive role in the reconstruction of
post-war Iraq.

Kirklees director Philip Cotterill said he would write to
international development secretary Clare Short on behalf of the
association requesting funding for teams of social workers to go to
Iraq to help rebuild communities.

“We know there’s going to be a strong need for a culturally
sensitive structure in society,” Cotterill said. “DfID is
contemplating who will get building contracts, so they can also
contemplate this kind of rebuilding.”

Bracknell Forest director Daphne Obang added: “The thing the ADSS
can most usefully provide is a sounding board.”

Barking and Dagenham director Julia Ross agreed to co-ordinate
research into the number of Iraqi children living in the UK as
unaccompanied minors to gauge support needed to help them cope with
uncertainty about relatives who may have been caught up in the
war.

However, two-thirds of respondents on Community Care‘s
website last week felt it was not feasible for British social
workers to make a significant contribution to the reconstruction
effort.