"Beginning your career as a social worker in London" written September 09

"Social workers provide support, encouragement, counselling and advice for individuals facing a life crisis - such as unemployment, mental illness, abuse, homelessness or disability - and who have been excluded from society as a result. In both London and the greater UK area, social workers are highly-qualified individuals who are keenly aware of the social, physical and emotional needs of their patients. These professionals use their skills and knowledge to help uplift the lives of those in their care, and reintegrate them into their communities."

This is a direct quote from a site that wishes to recruit social workers. Does it not sound great? Would it not appeal to anyone with a heart? Of course it will attract people into training as a social worker. I'd be tempted myself...if I wasn't rolling around the floor laughing instead.

Beware, beware, beware. Once again this week I and my colleagues have battled our way through a week on the frontline in a referral and assessment team. Yesterday, my brain simply went into gridlock. All of the above worthy aims and intentions might be possible, if I had half the work that I have. But I doubt it. I and every colleague I spoke to, feels desperately under pressure. Sure, some of the time I cope, but that does not mean that work is getting done.

And what is this work, exactly? Well on Monday I spent at least 5 hours filling in forms, filing, printing out data, photocopying and sorting out meeting dates and times. Work that I did not need any social work training whatsoever to do. Administrative tasks, that a sensible, averagely intelligent 18 year old could do. And the fact is, about 3 hours almost every day would need to be spent on such tasks, to keep up with the demands laid down by legislation.

Later in the week, I went to see a family which had a 6 year old boy just left with them by his mother. Under the regulations, the time I spent with the family was controlled by the requirements to complete a core assessment and do checks, eg 1hour was spent filling in CRB forms...So out of the 4 hours I spent with that family this week, how much was to "provide support, encouragement, counselling and advice"?

I would say, about 20 minutes. That included 10 minutes with the abandoned child and 10 minutes with the brand new carer, on her doorstep, after a lengthy interview controlled by bureaucratic demands. The time I left her home was 6.30pm, so I was not rushing to meet some finish by 5pm deain meeting the demands of the bureaucracy. Worse still, other clients will lose out because I cannot spread myself thinly enough to treat all of them in that way. I am adjusting to this, to the built in failure and shoddy work, but I won't endure it for long, especially now that it is eating away at my own sense of integrity.

So most days I do the juggling act, keeping as many balls as possible in the air, hoping I am not dropping the one that could be the next Baby Peter or Victoria....but with absolutely no certainty of that of course!

So far I am hanging in there, but please don't annoy me with  ridiculous rhetoric about uplifting lives and add hypocritical insult to the inevitable injury of staying on this soulless treadmill.

 More clearly than ever this week I see myself acting as a functionary, a cog in a huge machine. If I am true to myself, and treat my clients as fully human, then I simply will not succeed in meeting the demands of the bureaucracy. Worse still, other clients will lose out because I cannot spread myself thinly enough to treat all of them in that way. I am adjusting to this, to the built in failure and shoddy work, but I won't endure it for long, especially now that it is eating away at my own sense of integrity.So most days I do the juggling act, keeping as many balls as possible in the air, hoping I am not dropping the one that could be the next Baby Peter or Victoria....but with absolutely no certainty of that of course!So far I am hanging in there, but please don't annoy me with  ridiculous rhetoric about uplifting lives and add hypocritical insult to the inevitable injury of staying on this soulless treadmill.

I'd like to end with another quote: it's a definition of slavery:

"A slave is:

• • forced to work -- through mental or physical threat;
  • owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse;
  • dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property';
  • physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement."
  
  
  
  I know which quotation in this article  rings more true for me as a social worker in Britain 2009.

I overslept today. Possibly to do with doing a visit late afternoon yesterday, driving through pelting rain, and then discovering at the client's home that I had arrived at an Eid party. The guest of honour (the carer of my client) had just returned from Haj. And all dressed in white, very striking he looked too!  I removed my shoes and sighed to myself as I entered, knowing I was the ultimate party pooper, that my timing could scarcely be worse, and that all I could do was keep the visit as short as possible....
I declined several offers of hospitality, in the interest of not prolonging matters. Ultimately I succumbed to a few dates brought back from the pilgrimage, which were tempting.... and I was worried that in refusing hospitality I would be seen as in some way offensively dismissive. Along the way I explained the official thinking on supporting the placement financially (we would not be doing so, of course.) I also remembered that I had to revisit the CRB form. I had written that prior to her current address, Mrs X had been living in Afghanistan. "But you must get her exact address, " our lovely, patient business support person had explained. "Otherwise they will send it back...." " I see," I said. And I did, all too well.
So I brought the subject up, right there in the brightly decorated room, with various relatives and friends all keen to welcome back the doughty pilgrim.
"Exactly what was Mrs X's address in Afghanistan by the way? I need it for the CRB check."
Mr Z looked at me in some astonishment. "Just....XYZ province. There have been a lot of (and he made a gesture of explosions.) There are no streets and numbers or postcodes as you have here. It is...why we are here, because we did not want to be killed...or to kill." 
But, ever wishing to be cooperative, Mr Z, who has become a British citizen and so understands the drill fairly well,  wrote down another word. "There," he said. "That's like...Well, a district in the province. That is as close as you will get to an address."
"I see," I said. This time I really did. I must just hope that the CRB agency will understand that there are parts of the world where addresses are not quite as they are in the UK.

Back Again..Still Here!

I have changed roles since the last time I wrote. Now I am a social worker in Private Fostering. This is a system which came about following the death of Victoria Climbie. It seems the Government does not think it is good that a family makes its own decisions about children, who for whatever reason cannot be with their  own parents or very close relatives as defined by legislation. It isn't enough to do an assessment and make a decision about whether monitoring is needed or not. Monitoring must be done, regardless.

So today I visited a 15 year old boy from Afghanistan. He is living with his married cousin who has serious financial difficulties and asked for help to provide for the boy. I explain that there is no provision to make payments to families. They should provide for the boy from the family's resources. Or else.....
Ah now, there is the rub. What if the family decide that they can't make ends meet and request that the Borough find accommodation for him?

Well, then we can place him with foster carers. They might be of the same religous background, if there are any Muslim foster carers available.They will be professional carers, assessed, vetted, checked, trained, monitored and paid....to do the job of providing care in their home for a young person.

But wait a minute....What about listening to the wishes of the young person? "I want to stay with my cousin, but I want pocket money and I need clothes. I would miss my little cousins..." And it is my professional view that apart from the financial problems, this young person is well cared for at his current abode.

So we would really accommodate him, pay an allowance of £xxx per week, make a clothing grant and set in motion a whole Leaving Care process which will result in him having support until he is 18 and in acquiring a Council tenancy. Total cost....including social work time..£thousands.

We would rather do this than make any financial contribution to help a family to manage. Because....???they are family. They might harm the boy. We prefer to have him accommodated. No wonder the Borough is overspent...and just how would I explain this to the boy?