To ask your honest opinions of social workers?

[founditdark]

I am due to graduate with my social work degree and feel ready yet apprehensive to go out into the working world.

However, over the past 4 years, some people have been less than complimentary when I told them what I was doing at uni. Including my dad who had a bad experience with social workers growing up. He frequently tells me 'I hate fucking social workers'.

Is this the norm? Is it something I'm better keeping to myself when asked what I do for work?

Also if anyone has any words of wisdom for an (almost) newly qualified social worker please do post.

Thanks

I think people would have a lot more respect for them if they actually stick to the rulebook, i’ve had the misfortune to be on the end of a section 7 report where one set of rules apply to me but the same not applied to X. I’m happened to be dating a barrister at the time he pulled them all up left, right and centre and all of the things that they would doing incorrectly and infact way above their pay grade. I wouldn’t of known any different

I think it's a job where things can go very wrong,very fast.
It's a job where it's extremely hard to find the balance between caring, and having passion and wanting to help but being able to leave it behind or not blame yourself when things go wrong and it's not your fault.
It's very similar to the police,some people love you,some hate you and for some you'll never be able to do enough.
Just like police , it's easy to become jaded,go overboard,fall prey to your own prejudices and then your service users suffer.

It's so much easier to get it wrong , than get it right.

I'd love to do it but I know I don't have the mental or emotional capacity to do it.

@Saracen

My opinion of social workers is that they are horribly overworked and therefore bound to make mistakes. Because there are retention problems, a sizable proportion of social workers are inexperienced and don't really have a "feel" for their job yet, and don't have experienced bosses/mentors readily available to them, so they will tick boxes instead, and therefore make mistakes. I admire anyone who wants the job, but I worry they will be in over their heads.

Also the fact that social care is becoming ever more risk averse means that it is hard to be properly "signed off" once on their books.

All of this fills me with fear, and I would do my best to avoid social workers.

To be fair they aren't walking in off the streets are they.

I have an adult social worker- nice enough but doesn't really get it.

Have a worker from early help, amazing.

Last kids social worker, awful

Work with them frequently, generally they're great. As with any profession, some are useless but the majority of shortcomings could be improved upon if they were better funded/less overworked.

They get absolutely slated from all corners. They're either evil kiddy snatchers who make the nuns at Tuam look good, or they're namby-pamby liberal soft-touches. They're blamed for every failing of the family courts. Every time there's a high profile child abuse case, they're inundated with an incredible number of people online who know how to do their job better than they do (but will probably be rather elusive when the opportunity to be shat on from the entirety of the general public for £32k a year comes up).

Full respect to them. If it hadn't been for a particularly brilliant social worker, I'd have been left to be dragged up by my car crash of a mother.

I’m going to uni after the summer to train to be a social worker, I’m currently a foster carer. I’ve had many dealings with social workers over the past 10 years. One that comes to mind was horrible, no empathy or compassion, I told her it was time she changed her job and put in a complaint about her.

Agree with other posters, they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

All the ones I’ve met have been great
And have helped me a lot

I think the majority of people drawn towards Social Work as a career are the very last people who should be doing the job.

I have a 31 year severely autistic son, and my experience of social workers over 30 years has been truly disappointing, but maybe you can go and make a change.

My experience...I ask you what benefits I am entitled to do you answer
A....this that and the other
B...I don't know you need to apply
C...when my my mum dies and I am 17 and still at school do you stop all benefit to dad who is too sick to work and refuse to engage until we fill in every form in your office
D...when dad died when I am 24 do you insist on visiting his home so I have to take a day off work to collect his benefit books

Yes in my experience most are cunts...don't be

@Userg1234

My experience...I ask you what benefits I am entitled to do you answer A....this that and the other B...I don't know you need to apply C...when my my mum dies and I am 17 and still at school do you stop all benefit to dad who is too sick to work and refuse to engage until we fill in every form in your office D...when dad died when I am 24 do you insist on visiting his home so I have to take a day off work to collect his benefit books

Yes in my experience most are cunts...don't be

Social workers have nothing to do with benefits, we aren't benefit advisors and we don't handle people's benefit books.

If people ask me about benefits I refer to CAB who are trained and knowledgeable in this area and can actually give accurate advice.

Useless, naive, patronising mainly; tough on people when its easy, soft when people are challenging.

I wish you luck with it - make a difference.

I have an adult disabled daughter so have dealt with many professionals over the years relating to her needs, none of which I particularly "wanted to engage with" and the theory that social workers are despised because their input is unwelcome is ridiculous. My opinions are purely based on the individuals that I have dealt with.

Are there any social workers on here who work in children’s safeguarding?

I've had dealings with them from a professional stance as opposed to a personal one. Primarily with neglected or abused children. There are good and bad everywhere in every role. However I've seen some disgusting behaviour and it's caused me to write to a manager and complain. I very much had the impression that there were box ticking exercises as opposed to actually caring about their job. I've seen more bad than good.
I understand the heavy workloads and the constant demand (my job is very similar) however can't ever fathom getting to a stage where I didn't try my best or care. It wouldn't be right or professional for me to mention specific incidents but honestly, I have little regard for social services based on Wht I've experienced.

My experience...I ask you what benefits I am entitled to do you answer...........
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Si ce when did a social worker become a benefits advisor. Some may have a rough overview what people may be entitled to but they are not specialists in benefits!

Social workers may come across as box tickers because that is what they are required to do. There are nowadays so many processes and forms they have to go through. It is not like it used to be.

@PaddlingLikeADuck

Are there any social workers on here who work in children’s safeguarding?

Interests in why you'd ask (from a personal point of view; not a social worker!)

Fucking saints! Problem is, people only remember the mistakes or when something goes wrong or doesn’t suit them and ignore the good stuff.
Without social workers, where would kids safeguarding be??
Most of the people I know who hate SW have had them in their lives because they weren’t looking after their kids properly, and no-one likes to be told they aren’t doing that well.

I have been a children's SW for over 10 years and have read this thread with interest. For obvious reasons the actual work that SW do in relation to child protection is not in the public domain, if you are at a dinner party there will be people who will say " SW do nothing" and you smile sweetly and say nothing because you simply cannot discuss what you really did that day. The media is very anti SW and most people don't see beyond what they read in the papers. The damned if you do and damned if you don't is true. It is ironic that the same people who shout loudest about children being killed by their parents are the same people who tut and shout about state involvement with families.

There is a massive lack of funding as there is across all public services.
One area I feel should be looked at is that most newly qualified jibs are in child protection, after a fee years they burn out and go to other areas but if we had the experienced staff in the front line there would be far many success interventions for families.

OP never be tempted to go agency, people do it for more money but they are often workers who do a month and leave immediately leaving vulnerable families without support.

@katedan

My son's brother has had 4 social workers in the last year, He had at least 3 in the two years before that. He has been in placements all over over the country and in Wales, most of them were just dumping grounds.
Its no wonder his life is a mess. I don't blame individual SWs, though some of them have been quite frankly useless

I don't know what the answer is but I despair at the state of children's social care

I don't know what the answer is but I despair at the state of children's social care

Me too. Social workers are of course only one element- even with the best will in the world they can only work within the provision available which is lacking. Very sad and frustrating all round.

And it means good people leave so you are left with those who are not so good or burned out.

I’ve only had one experience of a social worker. She lived next door to me, she actually said she went into social work as she was nosy.

She would regularly treat her clients like an episode of love island showing neighbours in the street, videos and telling them all about the people she was meant to be supporting.

She spent the majority of the pandemic, drinking gin, sunbathing and smoking.

She would also regularly leave her 2 children aged 8 and 10 at home alone. It got to the point where another neighbour actually reported her.

Thankfully she’s no longer my neighbour. I’m sure not all Social Workers are like this. But if someone was in the wrong job it’s her.

You seriously don't know how they are viewed? You sound very young and worse still naieve. Plus with cuts their workload is horrendous now. Both my parents are retired senior social workers.

I had dealings with SS and they were horrendous. Lying and trying to persuade children to make false accusations, with leading questions. Documents were deliberately not included, eg my GP letter. The chair apologised to my step-dad (who would have been his bosses- boss ) saying it was the worst handled case he'd ever seen.