To think I've fucked up?

[meanderyes]

I'm a student social worker. Today I was working with a service user who had no food or money to get food. Tried different resources but none available being a Friday afternoon. No opportunity of loan or advance etc.

I took them to the shop and spent about a tenner getting them the basics, milk, bread, butter, eggs etc.

However, now I'm thinking that was really unprofessional of me. It's not something I can do for everyone. I have informed my manager but she's now finished for the weekend.

Really worried I will get into trouble for this or struck off my placement? Will I? Or am I worrying over nothing?

Nurse here, I’ve bought bits for patients with nothing over the years. You shouldn’t have to do it but it’s hard to turn your back on vulnerable people in need when there is no other support available and the type of person that would probably shouldn’t be in the profession.

Glad you were able to talk it through, have a lovely weekend.

@Hendric yes to be honest I did used to work in a LA like that. Very few services and it felt like we were treading water all the time. I spent 5 years there, it almost broke me.
Maybe I have been spoilt for too long in my current contract (I’m agency) and have forgot. I did hope things everywhere were getting better.

We now use petty cash in one of our other council services (not social care) which is absolutely not what it's for. It's awkward to get to so usually the SW just buys stuff to get reimbursed but never actually gets reimbursed because who has time to traipse there?

Such is social work.

I've been here for 17 years and it's pretty dire.

That said friends who have gone to more affluent areas have said in many ways its worse because they are just not set up for poor people. Swings and roundabouts.

SW lecturer here (and still a registered SW). Glad you spoke with your PS about this and they understood the decision you made. Also talk it through with your tutor please. You have taken learning from this. As a previous poster said, write a reflective piece. 🙂

I'm not sure I agree with pps who say this is crossing a professional boundary. I don't think you have breeched your code of conduct.

I've done this on more than one occasion as a community nurse. I don't really know anyone who hasn't. It isn't ideal, but exactly which caring professionals are "making their peace with not being able to fix everything" and walking away to leave someone with no food for a weekend? No one who ought to be in the profession.

It is good advice to seek advice from your duty worker, and to be ready to kindly decline to spend further money.

Well done OP, please please know that what you did was kind, compassionate and professional (whatever your manager says). I don’t see how leaving a service user with no food for 2.5 days could be representative of professional. Surely that would be a huge safeguarding risk. I understand you can’t do it for everyone and it’s a great point of discuss in your professional supervisor, but what you did was 100% the right thing.

I completely agree. It can be part of a broader picture that would be crossing a boundary but in itself its not.

As a manager the way I handled it was to tell staff to get reimbursed (they rarely do and neither did I when I was in direct practise so I'm not going to push it) and always let me know if they do it. That way I can keep an eye on any developing red flags.

This.
Never worry about being human and having compassion.
As a student you cannot know how to deal with everything. Your manager will hopefully support you in this and other things that arise as time goes on.
As you have read above many people have done this -even if very experienced as sometimes it can be the only thing to do if not necessary the right thing to do !

I once saw one of the police programmes a female officer topped up someones electricity, it was only £10 but she felt she couldn't leave them.without, we are only human after all

Having worked in a similar role I think you can claim it back? I would say you did the right thing as they couldn’t be left without food.

I work with social workers and although it's not the rigt hing to do I doubt there's a single one of them who hasn't done this at one point or another. You did the right thing to report it . I'm sure your boss will be fine

I see many vulnerable people in my job and I’ve done it.

Exactly.

Exactly.

You were just being a human, a kind one at that.

💐

I think you sound like a kind and compassionate person OP. It might not have been classed as ‘best practice’ but you were doing your best to help this person and they will have really appreciated that.

You haven't messed up.

That's such a lovely thing to have done and shows why you will be an amazing social worker.

Another adult social worker here. We do this all the time. We can claim it back too.

The person has to eat!

Eh?

OP helped a vunerable person out. She did the right thing. Why on earth would she need to write a "really through reflective piece?"

I used to be a probation officer, I now work in a similar field and manage a multi agency team including social workers, probation officers and police officers plus a few others. I think we have all done this at some point, (see also giving people things our children have grown out of our have extra/the spare cardigan we have in our office, taking people in our personal cars when we shouldn't, giving people your lunch because you'll manage until dinner time but they might not know where their next meal is coming from) is it highly professional probably not, but people in our line of work tend to be in it because we actually care about people.
You might get some advice about why you shouldn't have done it and emergency resources you can access. In my decades in this field I haven't come across a manager who would fire you.
Take a breath, it'll be fine

We do this regularly (police) you’re fine. It’s basic human decency

I'm a community nurse and have done similar in the past 🤷‍♀️ it's not ideal but what's the alternative.

I take it you're not in social services?