Maybe it’s because I was born during late September and
am astrologically a Libran that I like to see balance in both my own life
and the lives of people I come across both as friends and in my work as a
social worker.
It was in this mind state that I came across FASSIT.
My immediate reaction to the site was to feel defensive.
I am a Social Worker who has worked with Children and their Families and so
to read stories that were attacking Social Workers hit a raw nerve.
I decided to have another look and found a great deal of
useful information much of which related to why I was also speaking out
about the systems that Social Workers had to work with every day.
My personal experience of Care Proceedings
was limited
to one case but this one case had had an impact on me both in terms of the
stress that it caused to both the family concerned, myself as the social
worker and the way that I found myself as “Piggy in the middle” between the
department view and the views of the county solicitor and barrister on the
case.
FASSIT has talked about Social Workers lying in court
and in fact I was questioned by the Barrister about this, prior to the final
hearing.“ Could I lie ? “ she asked. My response was that I couldn’t and it
is for this reason and the lack of support given to children in need that I
have left my post as a Children and Families Social Worker to try to get
some work supporting families.
I however want to explain why I was put in this position
and why I believe that many other Social Workers find themselves in this
position. It is because Social Work has lost its voice. There is nowhere
that Social Workers can speak out about the system that has been imposed on
them by Government.
Back in February 2002 I wrote to all MP’s about the
relationship between Social Work and the media. I subsequently wrote my
autobiography “The
Nameless Social Worker” to try to encourage other Social Workers to
speak out about what they do. I tried to get it reviewed by Community Care
magazine but was told that it was not of a good enough standard for them to
review. I knew that it wasn’t a work of art. I will never be a Jane Austen
or an academic but what I wanted to do was to start to tell the public about
Social Work.
It was this in mind that I feel able to write on FASSIT
because I believe that most Social Workers want to do the best that they can
for their Service Users but that the systems that have and are being
developed make their jobs impossible.
Examples of this are the 35 working days to complete a
core assessment, which may seem a long time but with heavy caseloads plus
covering duty and the numerous different reviews e.g. Looked after Children
this is hardly any time to get to know and understand the dynamics in a
family and measure the strengths and weaknesses of both the nuclear and
extended family. I certainly wouldn’t want judgements made about my family
just from a few visits.
When I left my post very recently I was working with
about half the cases that I did in 1988 when I started as a Social Worker
having previously worked for five years as a Community Worker.
Of course I quickly measure the imminent risks to
children in the family and will own up to some parents feeling threatening
but it’s about being given enough time to find out the reasons why. My
colleagues know that I wouldn’t hesitate to break down the door myself
rather than leave a child at risk.
I recently had a text conversation with a mum to
encourage her to open her door and after checking that she and her child
were ok arranged later in the day to visit the following day to work through
what had caused the crisis.
In the case of my only care proceedings after being
qualified for over twenty years, as well as trying to gather information for
the core assessment. I had to organise regular core groups [ as the
children’s names were on the child protection register], organise who would
cover the three times a week supervised contacts and attend court on a
regular basis.
I don’t know why I haven’t had other care proceedings
during my working career but have heard about other cases and queried the
court procedures. Having my own case made me ask questions such as why the
local authority couldn’t share temporary parental responsibility without
children being on an interim care order, it just didn’t seem to make sense
to me.
I wrote to the Lord Chancellor to ask the reasoning but was told that a
reason couldn’t be given because there might be a test case. The law to me
seemed ridiculous because on the one hand we didn’t actually need a care
order as there was no intention of the children being placed outside the
home but on the other hand a supervision order didn’t seem worth the paper
it was written on as it gave us no powers to protect the children and if the
family refused to co-operate would just mean more time and money returning
to the court to try to get a care order.
As a Social Worker I could see the time and money that
was being used on this one family which took fifty percent of my time for a
period of six months to the detriment of other stressed families who I was
trying to support and starved much needed resources from within my team.
I cannot know the truth behind the cases that are cited
on FASSIT but what I do know is that the money spent on court cases and
children being housed in private children’s homes could be much better spent
on supporting stressed out families and helping them to become independent
of social services.
For over twenty years I have been an advocate of Social
Workers being based in schools rather than the laissez faire/ fire brigade
system that we currently have. I have written to several people about this
but no one listens.
When I have recommended removing children’s names from
the child protection register I have always said that I hope the only place
that I’ll meet families again is whilst I’m out shopping. The delay in
removing names is often due to the fact that there is such a long wait for
resources to put support in place either from Social Services or other
agencies.
Local authorities cannot go to the private sector for
financial aid as charities working with children can and yet it is local
authority social services who desperately need the money not only to carry
out their statutory duties but also to support children in need.
Unfortunately lack of funds mean that there is no money to support families
after their names are removed from the register and social workers just have
to hope that they will manage after all of the intervention to go it alone
and won’t become long term social services users.
Most families that I have worked with whose children
have been placed on the child protection register have asked for help years
before I have come across them but because the system is so stressed and
starved of resources what could have been dealt with through support has
become a crisis.
Much is spoken about the recruitment and retention of
social workers and the philosophy behind “Every Child Matters” is extremely
good but there is only finite money especially with an ageing population.
Even if I ignored the distress of the families being
supported by FASSIT the heavy weight of money spent on the court systems and
caring for children either voluntary or through care orders in children
homes or with foster carers is not encouraging the Governments view that
most children should be with their families.
There are lots of imaginative ways that families could
be supported if this money was transferred to supporting families. FASSIT
initially comes over as attacking Social Workers, which is understandable
but what I’d like to see is FASSIT and organisations such as
BAAF trying to
meet to understand each other.
As a Social Worker and Practice Teacher I have always
said that I want the best people to be Social Workers and wouldn’t want any
difference in service should my family need help than what I can give to the
families I work with. I also do not want to hear about local authorities
considering transferring money from adult services to prop up the overspent
children’s services.
I have asked Edward Leigh MP, Chair of the Public
Accounts Committee to look into this imbalance of use of money and the
current legal system and am myself continuing to look at the relationship
between Social Work and the media.
If Social Workers aren’t given a voice the many that
don’t support the current practices will ever be able to speak out and
FASSIT may have more and more distressed parents contacting them for
support.
By Rachel Bramble 23/2/06
Please read...
Shout out for redistribution of resources
Help Social Workers speak out
The Libran Social Worker
A Response to Rachel Bramble
Author of The Libran
Social Worker
by Charles Pragnell February 23 2006
