Okay, so I think we have got the message that Social Workers have a difficult job - we get you - but you know that when you become one and if you can't do your job properly - resign!

[thenewme]

Your job is to protect children, not to be best mates with the parents.

I am just so sick of hearing how hard their jobs are like that is an excuse for the fact that yet another child was under their "care" and they failed them.

Nothing has changed in decades and I doubt it ever will.

yeah . And 'liberal'. And 'PC'. All those Bad Things Wot We Hate. ON top of all teh crud they endure, sws are not going to campaign just to be shot down in flames once more.

izy - you are right it goes over my head. It is only when I mention something that I have dealt with to people outside of work I relaise just how awful llife is for some little ones.

Message withdrawn

I really disagree with frogwatcher's perspective. We all know that it's the parents/guardians who harm their children, but that is the whole reason why we have social workers and a child protection system. We have to do our best to make sure these systems work and learn from failures, again and again if necessary. What is the alternative? Just wash our collective hands of the children of abusive or negligent parents?

i was horrified that pregnant SW's are still expected to go out and visit these hostile families alon.
When I was pg in the Police i was not allowed to leave the station.

It makes me really angry that social workers aren't given more on the ground help, both to protect them and as an essential second opinion about the child.

I wish those who shout about social workers would do something bloody positive instead of expecting everyone else to rectify the situation.
There are already 60 000 children in the care system and WE DON'T HAVE ANYHWERE TO PUT THEM.
Stop shouting and get fostering.

Or if you don't fancy that

• volunteer for Home Start
• fund raise for the hundreds of childrens charities out there ( Nspc, Bernados, Kidscompany etc etc)
• give your time to help in drop in centres
• become a social worker yourself
• do leaflet drops during 'adoption week'

Actually do anything except shout, shout, shout.

I'd love to foster. Was fostered and adopted myself. Is it true that a foster child has to have a bedroom to themselves Litchick? You would hope so. My DC, (8 and 1) have to share. Many many people will be unable to help in this way if that is the case.

Not always, NNork - depends on the situation.
I have a mate who does baby emmergency removals and she just has them in a moses in her room.

Baby emergency removals I'll certainly be registering a wish to help. And the leaflet drop sounds like a plan too. Hadn't heard of that before, thanks.

My mother is an experienced child protection social worker. In the last 15 years in two local authorities she has never worked on a fully staffed team. The sheer volume of paperwork is mind-boggling - often similar forms have to be completed in full on separate systems because there is no interaction between them. She has known some supportive managers, but some who are hardly there and provide little or no mentoring to newly qualified social workers starting out. She has experienced harrassment and death threats (for which one parent was prosecuted). She does hours of overtime for which she is never paid. She has made written complaints to management which have not been followed up.

My mother is an intelligent compassionate woman who has spent her career trying to make life better for some of the most vulnerable in our society. She could have done another, less stressful job and been paid a lot more for it.

I'm not denying that there are huge problems in the system - clearly there are and my mother could spend a long long time explaining them. But to demonise individual social workers is pointless and hugely demoralising for the profession. These are all our children and we all bear a responsibility for their welfare. Write to your local authority and to your MP, keep an eye on children in your neighbourhood. But don't kid yourself that situations like Baby P and Shannon Matthews are nothing to do with you.

SW are not the only sector who face mountains of paperwork, this applies to practically every job nowadays. everything has to be so beaurocratic so less time is spent on the REAL work.

blueberrysmoothie, you have hit the nail on the head with your post. there's too much blame given to social workers and if it isn't social workers it would be another group of professionals in the spotlight...I think they do a lot of good work, that many of us couldn't even contemplate doing.
Also agree that it's a collective thing, that it's the kind of society we live in where we just don't want to know what's happening to MrsX next door with the 4 kids and all the shouting that goes on, kids never up in time for school, obvious negligence etc. People are frightened to get involved as they want to be as PC as possible, without causing offence. It's a sad world we live in.

I haven't read all the posts after I last posted but I get the message.

I have not posted anything as a result of the Daily Mail. I have my own mind and my own experiences to make my own judgements.

I have tried to help and been rejected as I don't have a degree.

Once my youngest is a bit older I will be applying to foster. I am also trying to find out where the nearest children's home is so send presents over for Christmas and give them anything else they need throughout the year, clothes, toys, etc.

I appreciate that they have a hard job, but I was posting as a reaction to yet another official going on about how hard their jobs are as if that made it excusable that children are left and left in unsuitable and unsafe homes.

My anger is directed at those SW who don't fight hard enough for children, at people in management who are just interested in targets and the government who doesn't give enough funding.

You can all insult and attack me as much as you like but some of you have no experience of the care system, no idea what it can do to you, and we are all entitled to post our thoughts.

thenewme please look at homestart; no detgree needed, making a very real difference as oppose dto clearing up messes 9which sadly a lot of CP can be about I think- though I kno some excellent work goes on in family support)

here

I used to work for them and what the volunteers achieved was incredible. Now, its not all cp or at risk kids- lots is with famillies who would get by otherwise but struggle but thats valuable too. parents with sn kids; pnd; agoraphobia; parents with sn themselves, a partner with terminal illness, disdability, etc etc etc.

The volunteers change lives; by helping support the parents the childrens lives are improved immensely.

Thanks for that Peachy. I will look in to it.

Great post blueberry

Yes Homestart is great.
And the families they get involved with don't have to be at the cutting edge of negelct etc.
Examples I know of are where Mum is agraphobic, or disabled or had LD.
Also a ludicrous amount of girls leave care pregnant and need help. No decent role models there, so round in a circle it goes.
Am currently trying to convince o gang of pregnant under 16s that BFing is the way to go so they can save their cash and spend it in Top Shop .

Ed Balls says there's going to be a full review of SS, "looking in particular at leadership, improving quality, training and recruitment". about time too

so when you aren't being as great a parent as you can be then you should put your kids n care?

how about if there were less ignorant rantings like some on here then more people would be trained in this feild and Sw's would have a far easier caseload and could actually do their job rather than try to cut corners.

Well thenewme one thing ahs changed: I am looking at SW training myself

Will take a while (but can go postgrad route at least) and nt for a year yet but am seeing Uni careers next month

so thanks

Actually we all need to look out for kids. The little girl that starved to death in a room above a pub. Neighbours saw her forlorn face looking out but never questioned why. Another little girl a couple of years ago, again beaten and locked in her room.. Neighbours walked by and saw her. None acted on it. The children in Birmingham who starved. The friends and neighbours of Baby P's family - surely they must have known SOMETHING was going on.

Everyone has a responsibility.

In fairness, Baby P was on the at risk register- someone at some oint did raise the alarm. They wetren't some unknown unidentified family floundering unsee in a corner.

But yes you are right. Not least because ime quite often situations that make you double take are totally harmless but a sign mum / dad / etc are struggling and an entire family can be lifted for somebody noticing, for offering a cup of tea and a smile. Quite often famillies we think have it fairly easy have untold complications in ways we don't know- ill elderly parents, etc etc etc- and need a bit of a boost.

The terrible situations reallya re rare but we do have to look if we are to spot them. Schools tend to be aware of situations so oftena word there makes a difference- I know when one of ds1's friends was worrying me I put a note in his home-school book for the teacher just in case. Far better be wrong than putting flowers by someones house six months later.

I was very pleased to see Ed Balls's proposals, but hope it includes a lot more funding in social services/foster care etc.