Walking away from a 20+ years career in social work

[Deedippy]

So I went straight from college into uni and then into social work. I have basically been a social worker for my entire adult life. I've worked across most areas of children and families in that time. I've worked in amazing teams with supportive management and quality training but also worked in teams with unmanageable caseloads and non existent management supervision and support and totally burnt out in my mid 20s. In the last decade I've worked in more specialist/lower management non case hold roles. I left my last post in the summer to just have a break really and be at home with my school age dc a bit more. Thing was that was probably one of the best roles I've ever had. Amazing small specialist project, part time, great support and brilliant training but yet with all that I've still had enough. It could be compassion fatigue or just trying to work in a system at breaking point but the longer I'm away the less I want to go back. So I guess this is where my aibu kicks in. A majority of my friends that are social workers feel the same but if we all just left then the broken system would be even more broken so I guess I almost feel guilty for leaving.

So feel like i have 3 options. Suck it up and get on with it, maybe move to adults in the hope it kick starts my passion for social work or sod it all off and walk away for good? My gut feeling is the last option so aibu to walk away from a 20 year career?

Just to add I feel very lucky that we are in a situation for me not to be working for a bit, it's certainly not something I could've done a decade ago and also what the hell do I do. Charity sector non social work maybe??

Please don't assume that the charity sector would be any easier. You could certainly use your experience to get a service delivery role but in a lot of cases would also experience exactly the same challenges. Could you take a sabbatical or career break - do some work somewhere else (voluntary or paid ) and see if anything suits?

The broken system isn’t your responsibility.
Your family is. So a career that works better for you will be a choice that benefits you and your family.

I think you might be right and need to make sure I don't see the charity sector through rose tinted glasses.

I am on a break after leaving my last job in September and absolutely loving it. I've been around for my kids after school, I've caught up with so many friends for a quick coffee. Last week a friend and I even went to the cinema at lunchtime. I've also managed to sort loads of bits around the house but the most amazing thing is the head space. I'm not subconsciously ticking over and reflecting on different things. I was planning to maybe take about 6 months but could push that out to a year. I will look into doing some volunteer work to give me a better idea about the charity sector, that's a great idea thanks

My partner said exactly the same. I didn't break the system and actually have spent the majority of my adult life trying to prop it up

I just left after 12 years in child protection. Best thing I ever did. Would never go back, I’ve done my bit. The sector does not help itself, review after review saying the same thing, and the latest one was a smack in the guts. Frontline etc has decimated training programmes and agencies have destroyed the workforce. Such a total mess and I want nothing more to do with it.

I was offered a business analyst position this summer and love working in a different sector.

I recently moved to the charity sector after 10 years in children and families social work. I love it- less paperwork, better work life balance, less pressure. It is still challenging, but this keeps me engaged in the work. The environment is much healthier, no expectations of working all hours and an acknowledgment of the emotional impact of the work and they support their staff! I may be lucky in where I moved to, so this might not be a universal experience but I'd definitely recommend considering it. Downsides are lower pay and less annual leave as I lost continuous service but for me (two young children) it's worth it for being physically and emotionally present at home.

50% of fundraisers want to move jobs in the next two years, 35% ish want to leave the profession, I expect other charity roles aren't so different.

That's great to hear and I need to hear these stories

That's so brilliant and I think that is what I'm looking for. Happy to take a pay cut and a bit less leave for balance

Can i ask is it a small or large charity? Still in children's and is it a social work role or something else? Thanks

I'm still a social worker and working with children/families. It's a smaller regional charity and I'm part of a multidisciplinary team rather than just social workers. They've given me a lot of freedom in shaping the role to my strengths and interests. Whilst I've still had to occasionally work late etc it's always been my choice- if I said I couldn't do something by a certain time or that I had to leave to get home it would always be fine.

Moving to a role outside statutory social work was more of a shock to the system than I'd thought- it really did require a complete reset in terms of my expectations, and does come with its own frustrations around the limitations of being in a voluntary rather than statutory role. For me, the positives have massively outweighed the negatives.

When I looked I found more roles as a social worker but outside the LA than I'd expected but it was difficult to find the job adverts. I found some on charity jobs, NHS jobs and just by searching for charities locally who were in an area I'd be interested in working in. I'd also considered going into uni to do teaching or placement support type roles, if you have your PE2 and enjoy working with students?

As a second year (mature) student, I find myself reading more and more about the field and questioning what I am going into... 😐

Don't. I think going into it a mature student is slightly different as hopefully your eyes will be a bit more open than mine were when I qualified. If I had qualified as a mature student I would be planning my retirement now but I was barely out of my teens when I qualified.

It's a job where you have to know your boundaries and stick to them is relation to hours and caseload. There are so many vacant posts if you aren't getting what you need and aren't well supported and you've raised it and it hasn't changed then move on. But good luck on the rest of your course and if you have any social work questions please feel free to message me.

I probably am going to walk away now as that's the right choice for me but wouldn't go back and not train and do the jobs I've done for over 20 years. I've worked with some of the most inspirational amazing children and young people and would like to hope that I've supported them in way that's made a positive impact in their lives. And some of my colleagues have become some of closest friends so its not all bad

Following with interest. I'm in the same boat as you Op but a bit older. Shite isn't it?

Oh an absolutely huge bucket of shite. If I come up with any solutions will keep you posted. For now I'm just trying to figure out what to do. The number of transferable skills we gain in sw is huge but just can't quite figure out where to transfer them too.

I have done my PE course but haven't had a student in about 10 years although have done bits of mentoring and creating and facilitating training programmes etc so actually education could be a good fit @ChiefFireOfficerBoyce

I have a very similar background to you. Went right into Social Work at university and worked in child protection for over 10 years advancing to lower management. I left the field for a number of years when my children were small then retrained in HR but found it too dry. I now do a kind of combination role working with people with disabilities who looking for work and employers who need support / education.

I work with a huge range of people from teenagers to older adults. It’s fulfilling but not at all stressful and I do a solid 9-5 day, 4 days a week. My colleagues are from a range of backgrounds. I can’t imagine going back.

The only downside is the pay isn’t great. For me though the work life balance makes up for it.

I was a Local Authority child protection social worker for thirty years. Loved it. Was in fieldwork, management, training and supervision roles. Got out because of the unreasonable hours, lack of management support and back biting. Certainly couldn't do it now, due to unrealistic timescales and caseload churn.
Get out as soon as you can, and take your many years of experience with you. Good luck.

I'm amazed you managed 20 years! I'm broken four years in. Knowing I'm good at what I do keeps me going. I have job hopped a bit to stop me doing myself in (at one point it was really getting to me). I think moving jobs helps with the stress. There are different kinds of stress. I moved from impossible time and paperwork stress to high risk of suicide/public harm and weirdly it felt like a break until I burnt out (multiple deaths, not enough staff etc). Currently I'm in a very specialist role with no case management or supervision responsibilities, but I'm quite bored mentally. I think compassion fatigue is a real issue for lots of us.

Is part time an option for you? If you're fairly high up the payscale, it might not be too bad financially. You could maybe pick up some practice educator/assessor work on the side. Maybe lecturing? I find working with students really vitalising.

If you have managed 20 years as a social worker you deserve a rest, a change of career and my utmost respect.

I have no idea how people manage that job. You are criticized by just about everyone and demonized if things go wrong.

Thank you for your work, take some time to be with your family.

How about being self employed as a private SEN social worker?

There are many SEND families being unjustly/incorrectly accused of Fii but the actual reason for most of them is neurodiversity of the child and the parent. If you Google the criteria for Fii, it also describes an autistic adult's behaviour traits. Many of these SEND families have to turn to a private social worker for assessment/support.

You could advertise on autism support groups.

At least then you could pick and choose your workload.

I think the stats are of all the people accused of Fii, only about 3% are found to be proven.

Thanks for all your suggestions, really appreciated. I've actually been part time for a few years and have also done independent social work alongside this mainly as an independent reviewing officer and chairing reviews post allegation against foster carers so maybe I could keep doing the odd bit of ISW

@Friday123 Sorry your finding it hard too but well done for moving around and looking after yourself. I get some rolls can feel a bit tedious but sometimes worth it to get a bit of headspace

I really do think so many social workers go through compassion fatigue and its just not spoken about and it really needs to be. Actually until all these issues are addressed the profession will just continue to bleed amazing staff

@Canuckduck that's funny I've looked at the HR qualifications and a few HR roles. Great you've found a role that merges the two and something like that sounds great. Do you keep your sw registration up?