To ask if there any social workers on here who want to tell me the good and bad parts of the job?

[MonicaGellerBing]

I'm contemplating starting an Access to HE course with a view to becoming a social worker (child protection)

Is there anyone who works in this area can give me the insight of what this job is actually like. I'm concerned about how you separate the job from home life when dealing with possible abused children. I've read and done my research on the job but there's nothing quite like the opinion of someone who does it day in day out.

Any insights are appreciated.

I loved being a social worker. I found it really rewarding and in particular I enjoyed doing the direct work with children. I have some lovely memories of wonderful children i worked with....chatting to them while we drove, doing a set piece of work around a particular issue and doing things like life story work. I also have some memories that make me feel proud of how I dealt with really difficult situation. I think if you have a social worker qualification you are pretty well placed jobs wise and most local authorities have constant social work vacancies and you have options in the charity or private sector too.

However I found it incredibly stressful and struggled to manage work/home balance when I had my second child, so am currently in a non social work role. I didn’t like the heavy load of paper work and time scalers that clouded everything and i struggled to manage constantly being in conflict with others or upsetting others (even when necessary) be they parents, managers, other professionals. I think the role suits a very particular personality and people who manage best have a great mix of confidence, empathy and efficiency.

It is common for social workers to regularly work over their contracted hours (without over time pay). One of the things that persuaded me to leave the role was working out what my wage actually was if I took into account the hours I actually worked and not just my contracted hours!

I will return to social work and it’s nice that there is such a variety of roles out there for social workers. That’s one of the great things....you could work in mental health, in a disabled children’s team, in adoption, in a prison.....

Whether it is the right choice for you of course is entirely personal.

I've been a social worker for ten years, a mixture of child protection and working with children in long term care (which in practice, feels much more like child protection than I expected it to), plus a bit of work on the fostering side.

Its an interesting, challenging and fast paced job. I love that side of it, the variety and the feeling that I'm doing the right thing for the kids. Most of the day is chairing meetings with other professionals, writing assessments and reports and a million admin tasks. The visits with the children tend to be at the end of the day (because we see them at home, after school/nursery finishes, unless they are very little) That it itself is a challenge as it can mean the more emotionally intense stuff happens at the end of the working day, and of course you don't look at your watch when you're in a home with a family and say 'right it's 5pm I'm clocking off....'
You have to get used to being comfortable with always being behind with your work which is hard. And there will always be times where you have to work late unexpectedly. Not because your boss asks you to, but because you know you need to write something up before you forget it, because you've got a court deadline, or you need to sort something out for a child and don't want to visit and say you've not done it... That is the hardest thing to balance I find.

Its impossible not to think about the kids outside of work but I find you learn to deal with it, by having a supportive team and knowing that you're trying to do something about it. When people ask me how I can work with children who are in danger, I can honestly say it's because I know they exist so I feel more comfortable trying to do something about it than doing nothing about it.

You mention an access course, do check in case you have any nearby authorities doing the apprenticeship scheme. Its new, and it's not being done everywhere but it's worth knowing about as its another route into the profession.

I’ve been a social worker for ten years, mainly in a long term children in care team which has an endless variety of work. There is a repetitive element to some of it but I find that balances out the constant change & pace. No families are the same, no children are the same. You do have to be resilient, able to cope with stress, not being liked or thanked by many, often having people cross or angry at you. Not a great job for a perfectionist: there is always something you can’t do, finish, complete the way you want to... on the other hand it suits a slightly ADHD personality as there is so much to do - you can never be bored & you need to spin many plates at once. Do not go into it thinking you are saving people, accept that ‘good enough’ is a real standard and some situations will never be brilliant, but I always think if I leave something better than I found it then I am ok with that.

Oh, and find a good team and a good manager...

Should have said, I love my job & it constantly teaches me so much about myself and others. Learning is definitely a big part of the job. It never stops.

I'm currently training to be a social worker and I'm in a child protection team at the moment. I love it, especially the he direct work with the kids. It is pretty stressful though and long hours although there seems to be lots of support at all levels. For all that it is stressful, I was a teacher previously and it is lots less stressful that that and in my team there is a much better staff morale than in most schools I've been in recently.

Sorry to hijack, but I'm following as I'm currently considering same as OP. Currently on maternity, but I won't be going back to my old job due to redundancy. I've seen the Step Up to Social Work scheme did anyone qualify through that? I've seen you need to have done at least 6 months working with families or volunteering. Does anyone have any ideas of where to start in terms of volunteering.

Home Start is good volunteer experience.

CP social worker here too.
Love it mostly, I am never bored! It’s demanding and hard and frustrating at times, but it’s worth it.
Once you’re in there is so much scope for movement and taking on different roles so if one part of it isn’t for you there’s always options to move on.
The training in enjoyable, you learn so much about yourselves and others.

www.home-start.org.uk/

I have been a SW for just over 5 years and 9 years ago I posted a very similar post to you on MN. I went through the access course and 3 year degree and TBH there are lots of times I have thought what am I doing? I have done CP, children in care and now in adoption. The degree with full time placements are hard if you have your own kids and at times you will feel you are prioritising other peoples kids over your own, I agree a good manager and supportive team will make or break the job but I am so proud to call myself a social worker, it is a very tough job and in CP you will get a lot of abuse from service users because you are in their lives at the hardest time but there is lots of other areas than just CP and it is a very versatile job. Good luck

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply I really appreciate it