Green paper is key to better casework

The director of the Bridge Child Care Development Service said the
challenge of the children’s green paper was not the structural
changes but “how it makes a difference at casework level.”

Renuka Jeyarajah-Dent told delegates that the green paper needed to
improve the quality of workers’ casework and provide social workers
with the skills to do a good initial assessment otherwise
“stereotypes and racism can overtake the case”.

She added that the lack of ethnic minority staff in child
protection made it impossible for each child to have a case worker
that matched their own ethnic group.