Root and Branch
The BBC ran a story yesterday about the new government ‘task force’ which is going to look at the ‘root and branch’ changes that need to take place in Social Work. All this has, of course, only become evident over the past month or so since the ‘Baby P’ case came to light.
The last ‘root and branch’ change in social work training didn’t actually take place that long ago. The initial training changed in 2004 to the new degree courses. Just over the last year or so, the new Post qualifying Qualification Training has kicked in – certainly amid much confusion although I think the PQ training deserves another post to itself..
But looking back at the BBC article, one thing struck me. There was talk about failings in Haringey, talk about the need to protect vulnerable children, a rather firm looking picture of Ed Balls, the ‘Children’s Secretary’ who is quoted as saying the review will be ‘controversial’.
But apart from four words ‘Health Secretary Alan Johnson‘ there was nothing mentioned about adult social care and social work and even the sole mention of the Health Secretary is hardly comforting regarding the position that the needs of a professional developed and well-rounded task force.
There is talk of increasing pay and status of Social Workers but all this talk of how things ‘need to change’ and how disillusioned the profession is, is hardly going to encourage anyone into the profession.
I do think there are lots of things that can be emphasised to encourage people into the profession – but most people have no idea what social workers actually do, apart from ‘get things wrong’. Again and again. But honestly, I didn’t go into Social Work to be appreciated, loved or even particularly well-paid (although some kind of half decent recompense is greatly welcomed). I also didn’t go into Social Work to be ridiculed and to have the scope of my job and profession investigated, criticised and changed every few years. Mostly by the Government.
There are vast areas of social work that take place outside child protection. There are vast swathes of social work that take place outside the statutory sector. Of course, these don’t tend to interest leader writers.
Protection of vulnerable is vital but there is more to the profession that being responsive to knee-jerk circumstances and tragedies. It’s a shame this same initiative wasn’t taken when the last decision was made to ‘transform’ social work.
The government just can’t sit still on this though. The press were goading the public up to call for blood and change systems that they have little understanding of.
In my view, social work is an easy target partly because it has allowed itself to be.
It is a ‘new’ profession that emerged from the coat-tails of the Industrial Revolution. It grew from religious institutions and charities and it is a predominantly female profession.
There is little general understanding (and I’m taking my friends as case examples) of what I actually do or need to do on a regular basis and just about everyone thinks they could do my job with a little rudimentary ‘common sense’ or training.
The GSCC (General Social Care Council) doesn’t really help. It has made such a hash up of the Post Qualifying Training that the profession itself looks ridiculous and uncertain (more for another day, I think!).
BASW (British Association of Social Workers) represents some social workers but only those who choose to be represented by it and it seems (from the outside at least) as more of a closed club that has a somewhat static membership base than a broad representative organisation for Social Workers nationally.
Earlier this week, I was speaking to a colleague about how we would put our profession to rights – well, not the whole profession but adult services and mental health service at the very least (as those were areas we had experience in!). We knew it was pretty much a closed conversation but it was enormously satisfying just being able to share those thoughts openly and taking a blank piece of paper to the table.
I wonder how will get the opportunity to contribute to the task force. I wonder how much of the time specified will be allocated to some of the less ‘visible’ areas of social work and social care.
I do care deeply about the profession and its value base and being pulled and pushed from pillar to post with just about every government as a knee-jerk reaction doesn’t provide much comfort for those already working within the system.
I know changes need to be made – but mostly because previous changes that have had negative effects need to be undone.
Perhaps social work in the UK, at least, needs to move more into the macro and meso levels as well as the common concentration on the micro-level practice.
But I await with interest more information about the place of services lying outside the child protection arena within this review.
Related articles
- Balls ‘was irresponsible’ to promise Baby P case will not happen again
- Government to reform social services after Baby P case
- Social care taskforce given greater importance in wake of Baby P
- Review aims to boost social workers’ status and quality
- Reviewing Social Work
- Social worker chiefs call for an end to demonisation of their colleagues following Baby P case
Posted on December 12, 2008, in social care, social issues, social work, socialcare, work and tagged adult social work, basw, British Association of Social Workers, General Social Care Council, gscc., mental health social work, root and branch change, uk social work. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
I appreciate that we should do all that we can to stop re-occurrences of case like that of Baby P and Victoria Climbie, but it will be almost impossible to guarantee that such cases do not occur again no matter what changes the government bring in.
As we have an ageing population, and a huge number of people with mental health problems, these are areas that should have just as much, if not more, attention paid to them so that we are ready to deal with the increasing need for social workers in these areas.
There are so many people who live on their own these days that it would need an extremely blinkered person not to realise that these are the people who are going to need assistance in the not too distance future. But the problem is that it is so easy for politicians and the media to whip up a frenzy of concern and emotions when things relate to children, but the elderly and those with mental health issues seem to be invisible to the majority of the rest of the population. This is unfair and reprehensible because these are the very people who have paid for the services over many years and should be entitled to some help in their time of need.
I dont think this ‘root and branch’ review is about Baby P (in fact I suggest it should be seen as offensive that he is being used to further a political cause. no respect offered to him, may he RIP), nor is it about getting us better status. I think this is political tugging between the department of health and department for children/families about who manages the social work, workforce. dept for children want the childrens workforce – full stop and they will stop at nothing to get it, this includes the destruction of the adult social work workforce who will end up with no recognition, no status, no profession, no cpd, no salary recognition. we should all be very concerned.
I also disagree that the GSCC has made a hash of things. they have consistently argued for a generic degree rather than specialism.
I dont know why you think the PQ framework is poor. Personally I think it makes a lot of sense and is much more coherent than the old PQs.
I also want to applaud Madsadgirl – thank you for saying that cases such as Climbie and baby P cannot be prevented. Until we deal with society as a whole, and our attitude to children/power/abuse/violence we can never prevent harm of the vulnerable
Madsadgirl – I can’t say I disagree!
Fran – thanks for that. I expect that the move towards changes in social work were happening far longer than any headlines but the announcement of the review in the News of the World by Mr Balls didn’t really make me particularly sympathetic to his statements.
I am concerned about marginalisation of adult services and that is a part of my difficulty with the new PQ system. Splitting Adult from Mental Health services doesn’t seem to be particularly helpful. It might just be that my local universities seem to have made such a hash of organising decent PQ courses that I have had a poor experience. And by no means do I think the previous system is any better.
It just seems like a shambles – again that might be due to poor local implementation – that wouldn’t surprise me.
I find it interesting that social workers have similar problems to many occupational therapists in terms of describing the complexity of what we actually do. It’s simply because our work is so complex that people under-estimate the skill needed to carry out what some people would think is ‘common sense’. I can’t remember which famous writer said that ‘common sense is uncommon’! but it’s true.
In terms of the child harm concern: When the base rate of an event is so rare, and the factors so many, being able to completely eliminate the possibility that a child may be harmed is impossible. That doesn’t mean efforts shouldn’t be made, but to promise that ‘no child will ever be harmed’ is simply setting a situation up for failure. At the same time as demanding better services for vulnerable children, we have the much more well-hidden problem of elder abuse. This area is so much less publicised than child abuse, so much less sexy – no cute kids to coo over, instead frail elderly with no teeth and wrinkled skin. The situations our elderly find themselves in, with little or no voice and scant services, really needs urgent attention in New Zealand, and from the sounds of it, in the UK too.
It’s not just educating social workers – or other health professionals – it’s about educating and informing the general public about the challenges and needs faced in care for the elderly (and any other marginalised group in society). More than that, it’s helping the general public recognise the complex skills that are needed to work in this area. It’s not simply ‘common sense’ – it’s professionalism combined with knowledge and compassion.
I think Social Work & Social Workers will always suffer bad press from the uninformed.The media & the Government have a ‘pitchfork mentality’ which feeds on & stokes up the anger & fears of Joe Public when a case like that of Baby P comes to light.I wonder what the reaction would be if the case involved an elderly or mentally ill person.
I think what is so frustrating is how little can be done sometimes, because there aren’t the facilities and budget to cope with it. I’ve just finished putting together a jigsaw puzzle on our health boards future plans for the elderly and the mentally ill and it amounts to swingeing cuts. What can you do for someone when there is nowhere for them to go and no help? The statistic that horrifies me is that a third of dementia sufferers live alone. I look after someone with dementia and I can’t even begin to imagine what that would entail in terms of the personal danger the person was in, and the physical state that they would be in. But as you say, it’s just not a priority.
Thanks for all the comments. I am sure that a similar case involving an adult would not garner the same interest but we shouldn’t need to be battling for public sympathy in the face of tragedy as a way to draw attention to the needs of the services. Nor should it need to be a battle at all. It can be frustrating at times though but everything seems to be about battles for funds.
There are similar cases in Adult care, for example, the recent High Court case of X & Y v Hounslow where the Council negligently allowed people with learning disabilities to be routinely abused and assaulted by other local residents.
It is just these cases do not often come out.
I am dealing with a number of clients with LD and/or mental health issues who are routinely sexually and physically assaulted but about which nothing is done except that the women routinely have their children taken away because they cannot ‘protect’ them but no-one protects the women in the first place.
So for them it is a double whammy being assaulted and then being victimised for being assaulted by losing their kids!!!
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