BASW has been asked to submit a report to a Home Affairs Select Committee consultation process that is examining government plans for capping immigration to the UK, potentially affecting the recruitment of overseas social workers.

Ahead of this BASW is inviting members – those from the UK and those from overseas – to give their views on the proposed cap, the potential impact on social work of restricting immigration and the wider issue of how overseas workers have impacted on UK services.

BASW wants UK trained social workers to let us know: (a) What are your experiences of the impact of overseas trained social workers on your teams or departments? What are the positive aspects to overseas practitioners joining your teams and what are the difficulties.

For overseas trained social workers who have come to work in the UK: (b) What has been your experience of coming to work as a social worker in the UK? What assistance has helped you in your work and in making you more comfortable, and what issues or barriers have you encountered that have made life more difficult, professionally or personally?

Finally, for UK and overseas social workers: (c) Should BASW develop a special interest group for the international workers where people can share their experiences and, in effect, act as their own lobbying and representative group?

Email j.devo@basw.co.uk with your views and comments

Social workers are increasingly embracing digital technology to find families for children, according to a leading adoption and fostering organisation which has reported a sharp rise in the numbers of children profiled on its online family finding service.

Figures from Baaf show a 37% increase in the number of children waiting for long-term fostering placed on its Be My Parent website.

The service now provides details of more than 250 children online, and the number of videos featuring children on the website has increased by 100%.

Be My Parent profiles children waiting for adoption or long-term fostering when attempts to place them with a family locally have been unsuccessful. Children are referred to the service by local authority fostering and adoption social workers and approved adopters then sign up to subscribe to the Be My Parent website or magazine.

David Holmes, Baaf chief executive, said “There could be a number of reasons for the rise. However, we think a shift in attitude amongst social workers around new media is playing a big part. Where once it was viewed with suspicion and distrust, now they are realising that it is a powerful resource in family finding.

“The internet has also opened the doors to using video to find families for children, which has been hugely successful. A 3-4 minute video can really show the essence of a child and our research shows that children who have videos made for them have an increase in enquiries from prospective adopters. Eighty three per cent of families in our survey said they found it ‘very helpful’, and 96% of social workers said they thought it was a valuable tool,” he added.

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A social worker has been removed from the social care register for paying for the services of a sex worker.

Salas Kochuparampil Abraham received a verbal warning from a police officer on 15 March 2009 for engaging in sexual activity with a sex worker in his car in Hull.

Mr Abraham conceded that the events described by the police officer were true but the officer’s record showed that Mr Abraham had not been entirely accurate stating that he worked in adult social work when in fact he was employed in children and family work in Hull city council.

It also emerged that in January 2009, he visited Mrs A, the mother of two children in need who were at school, put his arm around her and viewed photos of her partially clothed on a laptop. Following the visit he sent a text message from his personal phone saying “Hi I am Salas just to let you know that I enjoyed the time we had this morning,” or words to that effect.

Mr Abraham contested that he had touched Mrs A’s face and touched her hair and said he had not called her “sexy and beautiful” whilst viewing the photographs but had said that she was “confident”. He also maintained that he had not asked to see the pictures but admitted that he had not asked her to stop showing them to him.

The committee found that Mr Abraham’s behaviour “clearly exploited” the vulnerability of the service user, Mrs A, who was a young woman with low self-esteem who had been a victim of domestic violence.

They believed the wording of the text message was a clear example of an attempt by Mr Abraham to establish an inappropriate personal relationship with a service user.

The committee also felt his admitted behaviour with a sex worker called into question his suitability to remain on the social care register. ** Produced for BASW Online by JIG Media**

Four in 10 social workers feel they have an unmanageable caseload, according to research by specialist social work recruitment consultancy Liquid Personnel. Two thirds of practitioners who responded to a survey reported that their caseload had increased in the last 12 months, and 84 per cent said they often worked over-time just to get the job done.

Liquid Personnel managing director Jonathan Coxon said: “Our survey highlights some of the difficulties of being a frontline social worker. While child protection workers are often portrayed negatively in the media, it’s essential to stand up for social workers and give a true reflection of the challenges they are faced with in their daily work.

“Excessive caseloads are a problem for many social work teams, and they can have a significant effect on frontline workers’ ability to do their jobs effectively. “We have seen how unmanageable caseloads can lead to dangerous working conditions and create risks for vulnerable children, and this situation will persist unless caseloads are addressed,” he added.

The survey of more than 200 practitioners across England and Wales found caseloads were particularly an issue in child protection, with 40 per cent saying their current workload is unmanageable.

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The General Medical Council is calling on social workers and other professionals for evidence about doctors’ roles and responsibilities in child protection.

The GMC is asking social workers along with health professionals, doctors in all areas of practice, police, lawyers, children and young people and their families and carers to give evidence which will inform new GMC guidance for all doctors involved in child protection work.

The new guidance, which should be produced by the end of 2011, is aimed at helping doctors involved in this area of work to ‘meet the standards of professional conduct and performance that is expected of them’.

Respondents are asked questions around consent and confidentiality, doctors’ relationships with parents and carers and the training and support offered to doctors.

The GMC wants examples of when things went well as well as problems or difficulties in the area.

The consultation, which is the first step in producing the guidance, is open until 24 September and is available here https://gmc.e-consultation.net/econsult/default.aspx

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The care system is under extreme pressure and is struggling to cope with the numbers of children needing foster placements, according to a report published this week by the Fostering Network. Since the death of baby Peter Connelly in August 2007 there has been a continuing rise in the number of vulnerable children needing foster homes, the report warns, adding that the system is unsustainable unless more foster carers are recruited. Fostering services have reported difficulties placing children with the right families and problems recruiting enough carers to keep up with demand. There has been a marked rise in the number of children aged under four in the system, who are given priority, leading to a shortage of homes for teenagers.

Author of the report Helen Clarke said: “While fostering services had made real progress in recruiting more foster carers and finding children the right foster homes, the unprecedented pressure the system is now under has clearly pushed back much of this good work.”

“For the majority of children in care living in a family environment is the best option and we know that when foster care works it works really well. However, the impact of the rise in children needing foster homes and the shortage of foster carers means the system is no longer sustainable and budget cuts could be devastating,” she added. The report ‘Bursting at the Seams’ also found that finding homes for children with complex needs or disabilities, siblings, children from ethnic minorities or unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, as well as long-term placements, was particularly challenging. Fostering services are being forced to ask their foster carers to look after children outside of their area of expertise and new carers who have not had the time to build up confidence and skills are looking after children with more challenging behaviour than in the past. As a result, children may not get the care they need, carers are placed under immense stress and placements are more likely to break down, which can lead to poor outcomes for children. “Investment in foster care must remain a priority for both central and local government.

There needs to be a renewed sense of urgency to recruit more foster carers and to ensure the current foster care workforce is properly paid and supported. Otherwise, our society’s most vulnerable children will suffer,” Ms Clarke said.

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BASW has today slammed the current situation in child protection as a national scandal in the Association’s submission to Professor Munro’s independent review of child protection.

Welcoming the review, BASW highlights that there is compelling evidence to show that good social work and effective child protection systems save children’s lives.

However, the submission warns that more children are being put at risk because social workers are being prevented from doing social work and experienced and dedicated practitioners are being driven out of the profession.

“Frankly it is a national scandal that so many social work professionals are not properly supported to undertake the very complex yet highly rewarding task of protecting children,” said Hilton Dawson, BASW chief executive. “Social workers must be supported and empowered by both the State and society to do the job that they have been trained for, rather than be defeated by the gross inadequacies that are plaguing the current system.”

“It is a credit to the social work profession that so much excellent work with children, young people and their families is carried out because of the commitment and determination of individual social workers, and despite the current system,” he added.

In its submission, BASW calls for:

• Better alliances between practitioners, parents, carers and the general public

• A sustained campaign of public information about child abuse and the role of social work

• The assessment framework to be overhauled

• Social workers to have more direct work with service users

The submission also highlights that BASW actively encourages social workers to talk to the media, saying that it is “ironic” that there are often barriers preventing social workers from engaging with the media when they possess excellent inter-personal skills.

BASW’s submission concludes that there needs to be a career structure which rewards and supports social workers to remain in front-line practice. It says there should be a new child protection system that values the profession which, it argues, must be backed by a College of Social Work, led by and accountable to the profession with a compelling influence upon standards of training, continuing professional development and the employment of social workers.

“Children have an absolute right to be protected and enabled to develop to their full potential,” said Hilton Dawson. “Their best interests should be of paramount importance for this and any society. Nothing is more important for the wellbeing of thousands of children in England today than that child protection social work and effective child protection systems are given priority for development even at a time when public spending is having to be considerably reduced.”

“Good social work and effective child protection systems have achieved major reductions in child deaths over the past 30 years,” he added, concluding: “While we recognise the realities of the current financial crisis it is imperative that social work is given priority for development and growth to ensure that progress is maintained and that the lives of children are saved.”

The Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove and Children and Families minister Tim Loughton asked Professor Eileen Munro to conduct an independent review to improve child protection at the front line in June 2010. The final report and recommendations will be produced by April 2011.

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The government has announced an independent commission into early intervention to ensure that children with multiple disadvantages get the best start in life. Children’s minister Sarah Teather and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith said the commission will be chaired by MP and co-author of a report on early intervention Graham Allen and will report in January 2011. Ms Teather said: “No child’s future should be predetermined by the decisions or mistakes of his or her parents, and I firmly believe every child should have the chance to succeed, regardless of their background. Intervening earlier with troubled families can not only prevent children and their parents falling into a cycle of deprivation, antisocial behaviour and poverty but can save thousands if not millions of pounds in the longer term.” “This review demonstrates the importance the government places on improving early intervention. We want to learn from the areas already pioneering a successful approach to tackling troubled families early and build on local good practice,” she added.

The commission will look at early intervention and recommend the best models, advising on how they could be extended across the country. It will also look at how schemes could be funded, including through non-government streams. In January the commission will report on best practice and publish another document on funding by May 2011. The enquiry is being commissioned as one of the first pieces of work to be submitted to the Social Justice Cabinet Committee, which is chaired by Mr Duncan Smith. Nushra Mansuri, joint BASW manager (England), said it needed to be asked where the funding for the work would come from, if not from government. “There is hard evidence out there that this is not boding well for the third sector who are doing some excellent, pioneering work but who end up being the first casualty with cuts,” Ms Mansuri said.“If the government is not going to fund this, it makes you question how committed it is.” She also pointed out that the Munro review has been asked to look at early intervention. “Education minister Michael Gove set out three areas for Munro to look at and early intervention is one of those strands.

Her call for evidence on this area ends today just after this commission has been announced.” “This commission will be broader and wider than the Munro review which is in the context of child protection but it doesn’t come across as joined-up thinking and the government is not putting their money where their mouth is,” she said.

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Home secretary Theresa May has launched a review of anti-social behavior powers available to the police saying: “It is time to move beyond the ASBO”.

Highlighting that one in seven people believes their local area suffers from high levels of antisocial behavior, Ms May said the problem was so obvious that the last government could not ignore it. However she said the previous Labour government had taken a “top-down, bureaucratic, gimmick-laden approach” adding: “Such a centralised approach, imposed from Whitehall, can never be the best way to deal with an inherently local problem.”

The Home Secretary said that the ASBO had been seen as “the silver bullet that would cure all society’s ills”, but the latest statistics show that between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2008, 16,895 ASBOs were issued and 9,247 or 55 per cent were breached at least once.

She said there was no “magic Whitehall lever” that could be pulled to tackle anti-social behavior in communities. The solution to different communities’ problems would not come from Home Office officials but from citizens, council employees, social workers and police officers, she added.

“We will put power into the hands of citizens. We will put our trust into the professionals,” she said. “And we expect everybody to take responsibility, take action, get involved, tell the police and the other agencies what’s going on, and hold them to account for what they do about it.”

The government’s role, she added, would be dealing with unemployment and reforming the welfare system, regaining discipline in school and putting teachers back in control in the classroom and encouraging young people to take responsibility for their communities. She also pledged that the government would overhaul the Licensing Act after highlighting that the total costs of alcohol-related crime and disorder are estimated to be between 8 and 13 billion pounds per year.

“Because tackling anti-social behavior is not just something for the police alone; it is not all about crime. Local authority workers; social landlords; health and education professionals; social services – they all need to work together, and to work with the police, to tackle anti-social behavior in whatever form it takes,” she concluded.

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The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has said it will be business as usual for regulation in Scotland, despite the surprise announcement earlier this week that the General Social Care Council (GSCC) in England is to be abolished.

SSSC chief executive Anna Fowlie said she would continue to co-operate with the GSCC’s replacement body, as well as care councils in Wales and Northern Ireland.

“The SSSC is a separate organisation to the GSCC, is established under Scottish legislation and its regulatory functions not affected by this decision.
 We do, of course, work in co-operation with the GSCC and the other UK care councils to help ensure that consistent standards for social workers are maintained and mobility of this workforce across the UK is facilitated safely.”

BASW responded to the Westminster government’s surprise decision to abolish the GSCC and fold its regulatory work into a wider healthcare body, by insisting that the new entity must strongly recognise social work in its title and its focus.

News of the planned demise of the GSCC in April 2012 emerged in the Westminster Department of Health’s ‘Review of arm’s length bodies (ALBs) to cut bureaucracy’, a move aimed at securing projected savings of over £180m by 2014/15.

The review outlines a plan to ‘transfer the regulation of social workers to the Health Professions Council, which will be renamed to reflect its new remit.’

BASW chief executive Hilton Dawson called for the new regulatory organisation to be known as ‘the Health Professions and Social Work Council”.

He added: “The further development of regulation must allow for a statutory role for the UK College of Social Work and we envisage that the enabling legislation which will be required to fulfill this announcement will provide the occasion for the Social Work Act of Parliament for which BASW has been lobbying.”

The proposed April 2012 closure of the GSCC coincides neatly with the planed formal launch of the College of Social Work in March 2012, although how the GSCC’s work – in regulating the social work profession and monitoring standards of higher education provision – will be divided up in the future remains uncertain.