Any Social Workers?

[BadHairDyeDay]

My DD is choosing her A Level subjects and is interested in maybe doing Social Work at university. If you're a social worker what advice would you give to a 16 year old? Are you happy with your choice of career? Does it give you lots of opportunities? Is it tougher than you thought? My daughter is academic and creative and really wants a job where she makes a difference to people's lives. All opinions and advice welcome thanks!

Also anything you would do differently?

I work extensively with social workers (child protection) and in years gone by I used to occasionally think about retraining but not now it’s fairly obvious that they are totally under resourced, have a huge number of staff vacancies and a very high turn over of staff. In the majority of cases it’s pretty clear that they are not able to do the level of intervention or support that are needed or that they would like to do.
It seems like a pretty depressing job IMHO.

If she’s academic and creative and wants to make a difference then Occupational therapy is worth consideration.

I am a DSL in a school. Most social workers I come across in my area are overworked and unable to cope and frequently end up long term sick. This is because there are not enough people sharing the workload. The county I am in can’t even follow the national regulations in how long it takes to make a decision as to next steps when you refer a child.

I know one excellent social worker who is now the safeguarding advisor for our schools groups.

Hi OP.

My daughter is the same age and contemplating the same thing! She’s interested in being a social worker, youth worker or something like a probation officer.

She saw a careers advisor and has decided to do sociology, psychology and hasn’t quite decided between law or government and politics for her third choice at A level.

Has she been to any career fairs or spoken to any universities yet?

I think many people especially the young have this idealistic idea of what being a SW is about. Its a massive responsibility, especially CP, you receive referrals from various agencies, but the buck stops with you, you have the ultimate say about whether to take action or not, and what type of action, but your hands are tied by funding and available help, even if money was unlimited help in terms of foster placements etc especially for older children is very hard to find and yes can lead children in unsafe situations. Frequently other professionals will disagree with your decision (or more correctly your managers decision) and challenge it, and CP isn't always black and white. Secondly SS have to offer a 24 hour service (certainly for Childrens services) so its not a 9-5 job and the money isn't that great for what you have to do.
IMO its a job for someone with a tough skin and lots of life experience. A colleague decided to have a career change she went off to to uni to train to be a social worker she lasted it a month hated it.
Being a SW for children/adults with learning difficulties might be slightly better they seem happier and slightly less tressed and seem to achieve a little bit more.

Can she talk to someone already doing the job and get a feel for what its really about?

Thanks for all the replies. She went to a careers fair yesterday and that's where she got the idea. So far she hasn't had any clue what she wants to do. Unfortunately Occ Health not an option as she doesn't want to do a science as an A Level. She wants to do health and social care as an A Level as well as English lit, art and Spanish

As PP have said, I think the branch of SW that you pick needs careful consideration

Do a more generic degree get some life experience and then do a SW qualification afterwards least your DD won't have boxed herself into one career path.
Are you sure you need A level science to be an OT? Physio yes but OT? A friend I work with DD want to be paramedic ( a three year degree course) apparently you don't need science to do that I was surprised.

I'm a social worker. I did my first degree in sociology then went and worked for 3 years before going to do my social work training. I was 25 when I qualified and in hindsight I wish I'd had more life experience before training.

That said, I love my job and dont regret it. Over the years I've worked for both the statutory sector and for charities.

Your dd doesn't need to make decisions about her career now. I would definitely advise doing a degree in something like social policy or sociology and then get experience in various jobs before taking the plunge to train

I also volunteered whilst doing my first degree and that helped.

These are great replies everyone. Thanks so much. I will pass them on.

I'd say think carefully, look at long term career prospects/wages and if she'd be happy with that realistically. At 17/18 I was a bit naive! Levels of burn out are high (particularly in children's) but it can be rewarding, varied and interesting. Good subjects would be things like English, psychology, sociology maybe law, history? Most courses require experience which is more relevent than the actual subjects (I've interviewed prospective students at university) so is definitely recommend either a part time job in a related field and/or voluntary work.

You do need to be able to write very well and very coherently, be able to effectively and correctly summarise what people are say, at STRAT meetings for example you will not only be be chairing it but usually taking notes, discussions are sometimes a little heated and you also need to be articulate as you will often be in a room with those from other disciplines who are often highly educated and articulate and used to having their point respected and listened too and whose hands aren't being tied by your budget so have high expectations of some sort of definite and constructive action by SS. So I would have thought any A level that promotes this is a good thing.

I love being a social worker but I'd never advise any school leaver to do it as a degree. At 21 you generally don't have the wherewithal and confidence to manage the complexity of human life, risk, understand relationships, parenting, lead multi agency meetings, assume leadership of care plans etc.
I have worked alongside 19-20 year old students and also worked with a 21 year old NQSW and whilst some of them had a lot about them (more than I did at 21!) they were just not ready.

It's a very tough job, particularly in Children's services. As others have said, experience is key. My sister started working in residential children's homes when she was a student to gain experience- that was an eye opener. From there she joined a local authority and is now a team leader on £50K. The stress levels are horrendous, you have to have good presentation skills as you will be challenged by Judges in court, at meetings etc by other professionals. The burn out rate is very high. Totally underpaid and over worked for what they do. If she had her time again she would have picked Occupational Therapy which has parallel pay without all of the stress and responsibility - she can't afford to retrain now.

Only good thing is you will never be out of a job and can progress quite quickly up the career ladder due to staff shortages at all levels. The local authorities are usually family friendly places to work too but children's social work isn't always 9-5 as you may need to place children in an emergency a 100 miles away at 6pm. If she is really keen then I'd advise her to go into Adult Social Work and get some experience first as a health care assistant/care worker in a home.