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

One of my best friends is a child protection SW. In general I think they are massively over worked and the services are underfunded. They are also damned if they do and damned if they don’t with regards to intervening too early or too late. It seems like a proper vocation, immensely fulfilling and obviously can be very upsetting. I think most people will say “oooh, I couldn’t do that job, you’re brave!” When you tell them what you do and they won’t be ducks about it. That’s what happens to my friend anyway. Give it a go and see how you get on. Well done on finishing your degree

In your OP you ask if you should keep it to yourself that you're a social worker

The answer is yes. Lock down your social media and fb and don't use your full name, we all use first and a pseudo name, no public profile photos. And are careful who we disclose it to (friends and family sure, but not general public knowledge to random people we meet). I say I work for local authority, even though I'm not a children SW but in adult disability social work.

There are unfortunately high risk people who may try to track you down and your DCs, for whatever reason.

Please be very s/media and safety conscious. Most people we work with are lovely and vulnerable or overworked themselves, but if you do safeguarding work like many of us do,as part of your role, it can make you vulnerable to others approaching or harassing you or your family outside work.

And that's separate from the other general issues discussed on here.

A very mixed bunch, If DS and DDil had been able to have decent continuing social worker support when they were adopting, all our lives would have been very different plus the lives of the two unfortunate DC's they placed without reading the psychologists reports. Real unforgivable incompetence that was commented on very strongly by a High Court Judge.
I am very bitter.

I'm a nurse and I have quite a lot of contact with social workers. Some are better than others to be honest. Most are nice people though, but the whole social care system is bit fucked to be honest which isn't the fault of any individual social worker.

Sorry i meant to type 'or overwhelmed themselves', not overworked- I don't know why my phone changed that word .

I don't mean the families that shout and cry and you have big shoulders for to listen to, I mean the occasional high conflict risk individuals. I won't say more, other than please listen and make sensible decisions to protect your private details including children and address.

Everything I've just said is about safety not about quality or social workers. I and my colleagues in disability adult social work are the best and most dedicated professionals I know, alongside my many other MDT colleagues. We often work extra unpaid hours and keep so many people safe and with good outcomes. I appreciate ppls experiences vary.

@TheHateIsNotGood

dirtyjoan it's not important that you're a parent if you're a SW - particularly if your SW sphere of expertise does't involve children.

If CYP is your 'specialism' then if you don't actually have any CYP yourself then quite naturally most users of your service won't take you seriously.

But you get paid pretty good with great T&Cs so if nothing works out as you had expected at least you can transfer - not like the people you were supposed to be helping who have little choice in the circumstances they are in and not much they can do to change it.

I don't understand this though.

Why does a social worker having children make them a better children's social worker?

What's important is that they have the right training and skills. It might be that a social worker with children might have a perspective that one without may have but there's absolutely nothing to say they can't be as good or better.

Most service users wouldn't/shouldn't even know. The assumptions that are made sometimes are baffling.

As a PP said, this is a very good reason to keep really good professional boundaries and keep social media heavily locked down. Revealing too much of yourself is very dangerous and rarely in the best interests of service users.
Not just social workers but therapists and other professionals. People will look you up, however innocently.

@TheHateIsNotGood

dirtyjoan it's not important that you're a parent if you're a SW - particularly if your SW sphere of expertise does't involve children.

If CYP is your 'specialism' then if you don't actually have any CYP yourself then quite naturally most users of your service won't take you seriously.

But you get paid pretty good with great T&Cs so if nothing works out as you had expected at least you can transfer - not like the people you were supposed to be helping who have little choice in the circumstances they are in and not much they can do to change it.

I honestly think this is nonsense. Pediatricians don't have to have dc, neither do family lawyers or teachers or police officers or who specialize in child protection.

What dc need are people with decent training, supervision, reasonable caseloads whose work is monitored effectively. This is pretty much the same regardless of the profession involved.

I think it's an admirable, difficult job. Endeavouring to protect children

Im a sw in Denmark and my role here isnt considered sw in the uk. I work at the jobcenter but tell people I work for the council.

It's interesting OP asked a different question context to the one that many PPs are answering on here.

I answered a safety question .

Many people have strong views they may over generalise about all professions, that's true. However , it is important that we address the point that OP would be sensible to take extra care as qualified S/Ws will also lead safeguarding investigations into abuse and work with abusive perpetrators who can at times be high risk - so are particularly vulnerable in a similar - but significantly different- way to working police officers.

The system is broken and underfunded. I’ve been doing this job for many years. I don’t know how much longer I can do this without breaking down completely. I hate that I battle the red tape. I feel shit and incompetent not being able to do more. I want to do more.

In adult social care, many of the informal and comments complaints are because a social workers cannot override their loved ones humans rights and they expect us to behave unlawfully. In most of the cases, this comes because they love their parent/sibling/adult child but they don’t accept the law. I understand the strong desire to protect a vulnerable family member. It’s a very human and understandable reaction. However, we cannot breach someone’s humans rights because their relative is anxious and wants a really restrictive care plan - even if it’s coming from a kind place.

@LemonsLimes

I think it's an admirable, difficult job. Endeavouring to protect children

There are many different fields in social work, not just children services. By far the bulk of us work in adult disability and older adults field. As well as other specialisms like smog, DOlS, criminal justice, all very separate and different to children services. And equally tough.

AMPH not smog!!! Lol!!

Like any professions there are some great ones, some average and some useless. I do a volunteer role which involves liaising with SWs and my experience has not been good. They seem to expect volunteers to do a lot of the 'running around' and because we don't want to see people in distress we do it. Constantly during lockdown we were told that SWs were WFH and couldn't possibly visit any clients ... so we volunteers had to do it. And really basic errors like giving out personal telephone numbers to clients - surely they should know GDPR rules?

My experience of working with social workers, in a professional capacity, has not been good. My opinion of the people I've worked with, is that they are deluded by their own power and imagination. They form opinions based upon a snapshot of information, and then dogmatically stick to that, despite all the, and further evidence. I've seen some really nasty people in the profession, who really like the power they have.

In adult social care, many of the informal and comments complaints are because a social workers cannot override their loved ones humans rights and they expect us to behave unlawfully. In most of the cases, this comes because they love their parent/sibling/adult child but they don’t accept the law. I understand the strong desire to protect a vulnerable family member. It’s a very human and understandable reaction. However, we cannot breach someone’s humans rights because their relative is anxious and wants a really restrictive care plan - even if it’s coming from a kind place.

This is a really well said paragraph.

@RainingYetAgain

Pretty poor. I am with your dad. We went through hell when my father needed to be admitted to a care home due to dementia, and it ended up with my dad's solicitor being present at meetings due to the behaviourof one social worker. We had POA for health and finance in place but that didn't stop 2 social workers overuling us when he decided to go back to his flat rather than go to a nursing home, then he had quite a serious fall . Another close family member had a terrible experience with children's social services , which put the child in danger, think 12 year old being told that it was no concern of their parents where they were at midnight in a "party town" and they didn't need to do their homework. There is much more to it, but their life chances have been irrevocably damaged. So forgive me, but I would probably avoid you in a social situation.

Regarding your last paragraph, if you have such a judgemental attitude, I doubt anyone would want to be with you in a social situation. Of course, you have every right not to like or respect social workers. To avoid someone purely because of their job says more about you than them.

I think that social care in higher education is incredibly poor - very, very left wing, the educators running it appear to have a political agenda rather than a desire to improve children's lives.

I've experienced social workers though wanting to support friends and also though helping with a social need charity and I cannot understand why they behave as they do.

It's complex, but it boils down to (in a SG issue)- Can these individuals look after this child to a acceptable standard? If they can't then you need to give them a timeframe to improve. If they don't you need to remove that child.

When they are supporting a child with SEN - they need to action respite at an appropriate interval and support the parent.

I honestly have never dealt with a profession which is so utterly incompetent.

A lot of people don't seem to understand what SW can and can't do. So if your parents is self-funding for elderly care, all they will do is give you a list of providers. Their role is not to do anything else.

I was doing a social work degree and I changed courses after the first year for the following reasons, having done some placement days.

1. Service users are always going to hate you. No one is ever going to be opening the door going “yay it’s the social worker!”. Bit like a traffic warden, not that they knock on doors. I didn’t know if I cope cope with that level of hate, every day, year on year.

1. They are doing an impossible job. They are underfunded and have been cut to the bone, are constantly firefighting and things WILL get missed, because there’s not enough hours in the day to attend to all cases. And they have statutory responsibility, so if something did get missed and god forbid it ended up in something tragic happening, the SW is PERSONALLY responsible, not the agency they work for, and could go to prison. That was a terrifying prospect.

My own experience of social workers (through CAFCASS) was brilliant and was what inspired me to train to be one myself. But I think I’m in the minority there. My cohort graduated in 2017 and I only know of maybe 3 that are still working in frontline roles.

I work closely with Social Workers and think they have a very tough job. Most of the SW’s I work with are truly awesome. I’m a nurse and getting used to my profession being slated on MN, I think Social Workers have a much harder time. It can’t be easy at all.

Good luck in your career💐

When I was a teenager I struggled as a mum, and I had both good and bad experiences.

It's like everything else. That one social worker who was bad, and tried to unfairly pin me as a terrible person (I was struggling, it didn't make me what she was trying to say) has undermined the view of social workers.

I did have another who was brilliant, but the bad always overshadows the good.

As long as you have kids best interests at heart, and can do that without lying and being deceitful about the parents, then I can't see you going far wrong.

Protection of children is important.

@underneaththeash

I think that social care in higher education is incredibly poor - very, very left wing, the educators running it appear to have a political agenda rather than a desire to improve children's lives.

I've experienced social workers though wanting to support friends and also though helping with a social need charity and I cannot understand why they behave as they do.

It's complex, but it boils down to (in a SG issue)- Can these individuals look after this child to a acceptable standard? If they can't then you need to give them a timeframe to improve. If they don't you need to remove that child.

When they are supporting a child with SEN - they need to action respite at an appropriate interval and support the parent.

I honestly have never dealt with a profession which is so utterly incompetent.

It's all political. Social work is political. Nursing is political. Policing is political. Benefits service is political. Etc etc

It worries me more that some don't seem to realize this. There's inequality and poverty because of political ideology and policies.
Policy and legislation isn't made in a vacuum and the politics of the day massively impact the roles of lots of workers trying to help people.

Under the last Labour government there was a lot more universal support for parents. Now you need a referral from an agency to get support from a children's centre.
Early prevention and support isn't there because there's no money any more.

Poverty, work pressure, drug and alcohol dependence. All toxic and having a massive impact on children and families.

If a child is sat on a CAMHS waiting list whilst their mental health deteriorates until they try and take their own life, that's political. Caused by a dangerously underfunded service.

If a family with a child with disabilities can't get the support they need. Respite, day care, financial support, equipment then what's the cause of that?

If a women is experiencing domestic abuse but she can't afford to leave, she can't get a refuge place because there aren't any, there is no funding for DA support for her, the courts make her send their kids to the abuser, the police don't get to her in time when he's breaking it. Political.