..to ask if there are any Social Workers here?

[MrsHastingslikethebattle]

After years of low paid care work, I am debating whether to do my Masters in Social Work.
I have tried to get in my local council and civil service but no luck.

I would have to partly fund it as the bursary only covers so much, that's if I get nominated for one.

I am debating whether to do disability or adoption and fostering.

Mark's out of 10..

A) how much do you like your job?
B) Stress level, 1 being the least and 10 being the most
C) the amount of out of hour working.

I know its going to be tough job but I definitely dont want it to be like a teacher with an astromical amount of paperwork where I'm doing a lot in my own time.

Anyone here who can give me a balance real life account of the job, I would be most grateful:-)

Children's Social Worker.
I did five years in LA child protection.
That is fast paced and full of paperwork.
It is high stress but not boring. The hours could easily become erratic and it was difficult with childcare responsibilities.

I moved into child mental health after that which I love. There is the time to enable dc and their families to make significant change in the work I have done recently. (I don't think working for CAMHS would give this opportunity though.)

A significant number of my colleagues moved from child protection into child with disabilities, hospital social work and adoption and fostering.
I would say that nearly all of these roles expected you to have done at least a couple of years of CP roles first.

Social work is a poorly paid profession, with low public approval, high stress and significant paperwork.
It is often personally rewarding but you need to be really clear on your boundaries and your self care. You will not unsee or unhear the things you come across and you have to look after yourself because no one else will.

It is often personally rewarding but you need to be really clear on your boundaries and your self care. You will not unsee or unhear the things you come across and you have to look after yourself because no one else will

This is good advice for most of the professions suggested on this thread, not just SW. The 'caring professions' are often the worst at looking after their own staff. The jobs are rewarding, with a sense of purpose, but you have to be tough.

I’m a kind of SW assistant/unqualified SW
Look under family support

@MrsHastingslikethebattle it varies by local authority but in my area the unqualified posts are called ‘social care assistant’ (adults) or ‘family support worker’.

When I’ve interviewed for social care assistants of course any experience which has brought you into contact with the sorts of groups of people we deal with is helpful, and anything that gives you an understanding of the adult social care system.
Could be direct work with older people or people with disabilities as a carer, working in a care home, day centre, supported living, housing setting, or voluntary work. That sort of thing.
I can’t think of many of my colleagues now who haven’t done direct caring at some point, me included. We don’t hands on care in our role but are assessing a need for it, and setting it up/arranging it so it’s really helpful to have been on that side of things.

And there’s plenty of that work to be had!

And that will also stand you in good stead if you go to uni and self fund the MSW

In our LA the "assistant" roles are Adult Support Co-ordinators in Adult Social Care and Family Support Workers in children's services. There are usually a few being advertised.

Care work is really useful. As a pp said, most social workers have done some sort of hands on Care work at some point.

OP this is just one of the vacancies currently being advertised in the LA where I work. Most LAs will have similar. Have a look at the job description and see what you think
www.publicsectorjobseast.co.uk/Young%20People's%20Worker-Various?jobId=24118&JobIndex=1&categoryList=&minsal=0&maxsal=150000&workingpattern=&keywords=&employee=-1&postcode=&Distance=0&AdvertiseOn=0

Op the paperwork is high in any part of social work. You largely spend your day doing your job in person and then have to find time to write down a record of what you've done, as well as writing a lot of reports and assessments. Imagine doing any job where you had to keep writing an account of what you'd done/talked with someone about, who'd called you, meeting minutes etc - it's a lot.
I'm a SW in permanence - children in long term care. Visits often run into the evenings, not hugely late but it's common for visits to be booked for 4 or 4.30, take at least an hour, and then have to factor in travel time from wherever that child is.
You do get used to it though, and a difference to a lot of jobs is the autonomy you have. Everyone in my team works above their hours, but you find ways of keeping up that fit in your life. Eg some will rarely work late in the week but will be writing reports on a Sunday. Others will do a few early starts in the week but never work weekends. I'm going to spend BH Monday working, but I know it'll make next week easier and I've got some leave coming up and want to catch up. However if my BH plans changed I could scrap that plan and noone would tell me off - my manager isn't going to make it a requirement, there's a certain level of being behind with paperwork that's kind of expected.

CWD and adoption teams are usually but not always a bit better when it comes to caseloads. But bear in mind you'll usually need experience in child protection before you'll get into those jobs. To do adoption you really need to have experience in writing court reports and giving evidence which you'd learn in CP. And you need child protection skills when working with children with disabilities because they're at disproportionately high risk of being victims of abuse, due to vulnerability.

I love my job and while I know I work long hours, the flexibility of those hours means I find it easier than the care work/shift work I've done before social work. I know it's not ideal but tapping away on my laptop with my music on and a bag of minstrels to keep me going is very different to being on shift.

Thanks for your replies, theyve been really helpful.
I'll look into my local authorities more, I've been looking at daily email alerts.

I think the area I'm learning towards is learning disabilities. I've been doing that a support worker for years now.
I'm looking into learning disability nurse or social worker. Both of their pros and cons. I want to better myself but not at the cost of my mental health and family life. But I guess that's what everyone wants!

There are some courses where you can dial qualify as a learning disabilities nurse and social worker. I know edge hill do it, not sure of others. Would definitely keep your options open that way