I am a social worker, ask me anything

[Socialmediajunkie]

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Hi starlightjazz The university degree is generic but most people generally have some idea of whether they want to go for adults or children so tailor the placements to the area in which you are interested in. If not then you could request a placement in each. You could request placement at hospice. They do not need to have a social worker there as you can be provided with outreach placement worker who will be a social worker. The skills are interchangeable and I have friends who have switched from adults to children's and vice versa

There is so much to cover in degree especially if you do a masters degree, we learnt about human behaviour but if I'm honest, I have learnt more in the field and from specialist courses provided by LA

Are you allowd to turn up at someones adress if my child is under section 17

melese2964 Do you mean turn up unannounced at your address if your child is subject to assessment or child in need plan under section 17? If so, the answer is yes but you would be able to refuse entry. I would ask reason that the visit was unannounced and then make the decision whether to allow entry

Ohhhh

Okay just wondered because when my child was under sec 17 different social workers was knocking on my door all the time. i ignored them a few times

Melse2964 sometimes I go unannounced if I have a concern and sometimes I might just be in area

If someone refuses then that's their prerogative, however, if I am visiting due to a concern, I will try to get engagement but if not I will have to make decision on next action

Do you get paid a bonus for kids being adopted? Everyone seems terrified of social services if they have "adoptable" kids (i.e. healthy babies).

CanaBanana NO!! That was something started by gutter press! There are no bonuses full stop! This really winds me up!

Removing a child is the last resort and doesn't happen often. If it dies, then we would always look to family first as best place fir a child is in his or her family. That might be aunts, uncles, grandparents and a family group conference would happen to see who could provide care

If no one can provide care then we would look to foster placements. This would give an interim care order. Parents will have 26 weeks to have the assessments and make changes before final care order granted.

I had a social worker as a child.she would come and visit me in my home...ask how I was and how things were going....I would pray before every visit she would ask my dad to leave the room so I could be honest...she never did....but if she had she could of massively changed my life for the better..I was 16 .

Socialmediajunkie -

I have 2 young children (3 and 6) and my husband has recently announced he's leaving. I'm currently a SAHM but really want to (need to) get a good, stable career up and running, so am thinking of returning to university.

At the moment I'm thinking either teaching or social work.

My question is...how flexible a job is it? Teaching is attracting me as although I'm under no illusion how hard it is, at least I would get school hols with my children. I've had a look on my local council website at social work and it does mention that they offer flexible working - such as part - time, voluntary reduced time, job share, term time, flexi time etc. I am just wondering, in your experience, how often this actually happens, or is it just something that they have to say? Or say just to lure people in!

Thanks so much in advance!

Hi OP, do you suffer with compassion fatigue and / or burnout? I have worked with children and families for nearly 20 years and I definitely suffer from both

As a fellow social worker I've enjoyed reading this thread.

As OP hasn't replied I'll respond Cb148. I've only worked in one authority so can't really speak widely but what I can say is that working anything more than full time as a SW will be hard. This is because it's unpredictable and you just can't predict what is going to come in and when and often you get dates of meetings/ court etc that can't be changed. I can't see term time only working in this role because your cases will still need to be worked when you are off. The 6 weeks hols would be a major issue. Some people do part time but again they find it hard and they often working on their non working days. I did compressed hours when I firstts returned to work after maternity leave. This meant that I worked 37 hours over 4 days. It wasn't easy but got me through the trauma of leaving a baby of 9 months to go back to work. Again it's hard to do in the job and works best if you can change your non working day when needed. My authority do offer flexi time and allows 2 flexi days a month. This tends to work quite well as you get back the extra hours you work. Some authorities however are very strict with the rules of flexi time and not being able to carry over more than 15 hours etc. If this is the case then it doesn't work well but with flexibility it does. I've managed it for 6 years as Mum and 2.5 years as a single mum. It takes a lot of discipline, flexibility and a supportive team who can take over for you if it's a day when you can't possible stay late due to child are etc.

Thank you so much for your reply, really helpful to know. I think it's great that there's a shift being made to make things more accessible to parents, that was a big bugbear of mine in teaching!

Is Tracy beaker on cbbc a realistic portrayal of life in a children's home?

I've not seen it for a number of years Elle but from my recollections, no it does not. I can't remember seeing any restraints, kids going missing all hours of the day, assaults on staff members and substance misuse or CSE. The kids in children's home are generally the ones with very complex behaviours whose needs cannot be met in a family environment. From my recollection, I can't remember seeing any reasons why the kids on that program could not be cared for by foster families.

Hi how do workers find estranged family of orphaned kids who live in different country's?