Professional Issues that are on-going:
To understand our critical perspective, please follow this link: The Basis for Criticism Social Work, as a socially supportive professions, is suffering an indignant demise: Over a year ago, on this web site, I proposed that Social Work is in serious crisis. Well, I now have to report that, to all intent and purpose, it may no longer be 'Social Work' as we know it (certainly within the Shire Counties). The pressure is on and the Title has been almost completely incorporated into the roles of 'Community Policing' and 'Budgetary Control'. The registration of 'Title' of Social Work, within the GSCC (Government Sponsored Social Care Regulatory Body), is technically briefed to protect clients, but will actually, only protect 'social care' practitioners in their statutory undertakings and obligations. Who do social workers serve, supposedly in the clients interests? Well, that depends upon who is deciding at any point in time. Most Professional Social Workers that I speak to have usually trained to serve their client in that person's best interests but are increasingly under pressure to serve clients in the communities, or the states best interests. This sounds a little archaic and some may say 'quite right too', but this has been the foundation course for the creation of social dependency in the past. In serving the individual, in their best interest, even where the community that may need protection, we can engage with the person in a way that empowers them, so that the 'effect' is actually in the communities interest. We can even conceive of serving the community in the clients best interests. We have started to do this by supporting Family Carers of various kinds. By providing good community services and resources to the community generally, we provide these equitably to the individual clients and also provide community opportunities for 'other' members, of that supported community, to support the client. As in our concept of 'Community Networking' and 'Therapeutic Networking', Communities do start to Care, when they have a surplus of personal and community, opportunities & resources, with a sense of 'ownership' of those resources. I have found this time after time in my small 'support networks'. The members of these networks tend to provide support to each other and learn to trust and respect each other. This happens quite naturally, but sometimes needs a catalyst to break the cycle of dependency. Any other action, especially more 'statutory' approaches, tends to generate dependency and pernicious resentments. The opportunities and the professional will, to utilise the skills of Social Workers, to intervene to directly avert personal and family crises, and to facilitate reparation and social recovery, has been severely constrained. The next tranche of service reorganisation will see this role reduced further; to one of crisis management & service 'claw back'. This is very much a 'Care Co-ordinator', or Care Manager' role. This is quite legitimate, but can be a very limited and expensive Social Work Role, one which can be undertaken by any competent and skilled Health & Social Care Professional. Limiting Social Workers to this kind of role often removes important qualities like; 'Professional Discretion, Autonomy and Balance'. By forcing professionals to consider budget restrictions, public opinion and institutional policies as priority, we take away the focus on the clients and blinker professionals to thinking in terms of providing resources that 'have' to cost something, above and beyond what is already available and could be used to better effect, with some little support. Come on all Social Care Professionals, show what you are made of. There is room for some good 'social work' professionals in organising advanced 'socially therapeutic' styles of social care. We need to regain the Copyright of 'General Social Work Practice', which integrates social care and community work generally, providing the foundations for good, effective and empowering social work, in its original sense and purpose. Social work needs a role potential that will provide proper, independent social care advice and support in much the same way as our GP. There is even room for Social Work Consultants. Indeed, I am one. The hidden agenda is to reduce professional commitment, implement cheaper & less accountable care options and increase 'controls'. I can not pretend that the public image of social work has ever been particularly positive, except in the eyes of those relative few, who eventually manage to qualify for the 'positive' help they requested. Even that role is increasingly, competently undertaken by committed Social Care, Support Workers and Occupational Therapists. The image and confidence in the profession has never been lower and the more committed Social Workers are increasingly disillusioned in the limited roles they are assigned. They dare not speak out publicly. Each of the specialist skills are being sequestrated by other professional groups and social work is loosing it true identity. It is small wonder that the media focuses on the failures in community care and blames social workers. There are too few examples of demonstrable success these days. While the other Social Care professions are measured in terms of the 'quality' of their work, Social Work is measure in terms of the statistics and waiting lists. New generations of Social Workers are unlikely to have insight into the original, positive objectives of the profession, except during their training. I wonder how long it will be until even this is also lost. The 'Theory' of social work, such as it is, now bares little relation to the realities of social work practice. I see little evidence of Social Workers publically speaking up against the current 'disabling' trends. Sadly, credibility is so low, I am not sure we would be listened to and trusted anyway. Social Worker integrity is being further undermined and eroded, by increasingly micro managed, disabling services. Service Manager's 'fear' allowing professionals the opportunity to take appropriate professional decisions which are in keeping with ethical obligations. Identifying 'needs' cost money, managers clearly feel that this must be curtailed and the 'system' protected from being seen to be negligent and incompetent in the process. Meeting people's needs adequately overruns the 'time boundaries' imposed and increases the length of waiting lists. These are the artificial criteria being used to measure social work effectiveness. In this incompetent process, we are reducing quality, reliability, choice and the potential effectiveness of the services. It is the underpaid and under resourced 'Health & Social Care workers' who are 'enabling' disadvantaged members of the community to 'survive'. I can no longer see my way to defend the current, newly evolving role of 'Social Work'. Social Worker's are increasing shoehorned into the role of 'disqualifying' people from obtaining a service. Getting access to practical social work is almost impossible and those Social Workers that are still able to provide, or assign 'enabling' services, are being increasingly (though subtly) overridden in their assessments, essentially for financial and socially prejudiced reasons. I can no longer defend this position. It entirely conflicts with ethical obligations and contravenes basic, legally incorporated 'Human Rights'. It is actually disabling people. Social Work interventions, which were originally geared towards the early prevention of crises, are almost absent now and have been progressively reducing for years, 'written out of existence' by divisive local Policy'. People who are trying to get this help early on, already know this. Because people who seek early help do not 'qualify' for more than the assessment (which they do not always get), they have very limited grounds for complaint. They meet a brick wall, or are referred to the voluntary sector, Citizens Advice and other Charities, who are often unprepared for the referrals and certainly under resourced for the increasing demands that they can now expect. The few professionals left put themselves on the line in trying to maintain ethical standards. I recently heard a Child Protection Officer describe their role as a 'third and forth tier services'. Health services personnel only speak of two. I am strain to envisage what the lower 2 or 3 tiers of Social Work & Child Protection services are. There are no substantial foundations and the tower itself is tilting at a dangerous angle. Like Pisa, it is becoming a spectacle. The same kinds of 'its not my job' arguments can be heard in many specialist social work and health care teams. Many who have spoken out against these artificial boundaries and of the displacement of duty, have been censured, whole teams of highly effective, but vocal professionals have been run down, disbanded and units closed. It is also common for health care and social work teams to pass responsibility back and forth between themselves. This is because each profession and specialism, is competing for funds and attempting to reduce overwhelming workloads, This leaves vulnerable service users (and their carers) heads spinning. This eventually creates the crises which 'qualifies' them for professional attention. Unfortunately, avoidable damage is done in the process and greater, longer term 'dependencies' are created. Most of this could be excused, due to lack of resources, if it were not for the fact that a lot of this time and these limited resources are tied up in the process of 'disqualifying' people from help; dealing with the admin and paperwork; and computer 'data processing'; which are designed for justifying the expenditures (for largely in following these processes). Rationalisation of services leaves the community with less resources and poorer quality services, which have become even less well integrated with each other, at surprising increasing costs. As a Researcher, as a Community Care practitioner as a Professional Social Worker and in my own right as a Citizen, I have, (until recently and from time to time) sought services for those that I support in the community and also for myself and my family. I always take the approach as 'an ordinary member of the community', not disclosing, or calling upon, any of my professional roles, my District & Town Counsellor status (while these were in operation), and without initially disclosing my specialist knowledge of Rights & Legal Entitlements. The comprehensive experience has usually been that of sympathetic dismissive, displacing, disempowering and often distressing rejection of almost all 'substantial' requests. Sometimes the rejection has also been quite 'aggressive' if I persist in attempts to get the person's needs addressed. This approach has been tested in engaging Second Tier 'involved' Mental Health, 3rd & 4th Tier Child Protection, Ground Floor Policing Services, Basement and Ground Level Housing, Legal, Social Security and Employment services. Unless the person I am referring is in imminent risk of danger, the response has not only been ineffectual, but actively disabling and compounding of the person's problems. By institutional neglect and jaundiced judgments, we are creating the more complex 'social crises' that we later feel justified to attend to, often in quite inappropriate ways and frequently relatively ineffectually. Once upon a time, those of us undertaking Social Work had hoped that this profession would achieve independent practitioner standard, much like GP's, Senior Nurses, Paramedical and Complementary Practitioners have achieved. The health services professionals are equally restricted by the resources available, but are less ready to allow this to interfere with their Code of Ethics. Even here, especially in the Mental Health sector, Community Team Social Workers and come Community Nurses are being assigned what can only be described as 'Policing' & 'Emergency' type roles and powers. The focus, therefore, is increasingly upon 'restrictive', rather than 'enabling' interventions. Social Work was supposed to be the 'thread' that patched these services together. We are becoming the treadbare patches. The Ethics of Professional Social Work is now severely compromised, on a daily basis. It is small wonder that the profession's credibility and public confidence is so low. Some how, institutional managers and the General Social Care Council (many of who are failed or burnt out professionals), have progressively brought Social Work into disrepute. The social work profession 'as we knew it' had hardly achieved any respected professional standing, before its embarrassingly dishonourable and painfully slow, early death. Sadly, no one appears to be trying to resuscitate it. This is because there is so little left, of any integrity, that is worth saving. It is also in the interests of some institutional bodies to see its self inflicted demise and Community Care along with it. Basically, the Title of Social Work has been usurped by the community engineers of BASW; The Big-Brother, Association of (Institutionalised) Social Work). Their purpose was always to serve self interest. From my engagement with the General Social Care Council, over the last 5 years, it is clear that the interests of the professions 'status' takes precedence over the interests of adequate support and protection of clients. You will have noticed the the existence of GSCC, the Professional Regulating body for Social Work, has made no significant difference to the security, or wellbeing of clients, 'even if you knew nothing of its existence'. It is time to develop a new, invigorated profession, for the proper support of our citizens and communities, the proper management of risk and earlier, positive intervention into potential family and community crises. This is Social Work's last stand. The profession now glories in riding in as the Cavalry, like Custer, having preserved their strength on the sidelines, while watched the locals fight to survive and become depleted, before putting on a good show', only to fail to save anyone and suffer the consequences of all who procrastinate and leave things too late; - extinction. We need to look for a new 'Title'. The original one has been stolen and has become tarnished. I look forward to the advance of Social Care and Community Care in their own right, with a Title earned, like other true, enduring and advancing professions, by demonstration of its Ethics and independence of professional integrity. For the time being, I retain the last stand for the fundamental principles of being a 'Social Worker' without the Title. The pay is poor but principles are strong. Come on all Social Care Professionals, show what you are made of. There is room for some good 'social work' professionals in organising advanced 'socially therapeutic' styles of social care. We need to regain the Copyright of 'General Social Work Practice', which integrates social care and community work, providing the foundations for good, effective and empowering social work, in its original sense and purpose. Social work needs a role potential that will provide proper, independent social care advice and support in much the same way as our GP. There is even room for Social Work Consultants. Indeed, I am one. I have decided to stop encouraging the best of the Social & Community Care professionals to advance careers, through becoming 'Institutional' Social Workers. I now recommend that we advance our professional practices and build up a new, professionally independent 'Social Work' profession. Independent that is, of the 'Agents of State', which 'institutional' forms of social work have become (and if we are not careful, will increasingly become). Social work needs to address skilled consultative, socially therapeutic roles as well as the equally important 'Crisis Intervention' and 'Emergency Protection' roles. Just one other important point for Social Workers (and other professionals) who are experiencing increased levels of anger & aggression from clients & patients. My discussions with Social Workers (and other Social Care and Health Professionals) indicate that many are experiencing increased levels of anger & aggression, with reduced cooperation from clients (or patients), families, carers, neighbours and voluntary organisations. I certainly meet these difficulties and hear these concerns, on a weekly basis. The frustrations and anger are increasing, along with a corresponding reduction in aspirations and hope. This is very worrying for us all. Some of this aggression is due to the personality of the individuals concerned and we have learned to live with this. Much of it is now directly related to the frustration and distress caused by incompetence and poor insight of your predecessors and colleagues, within your own and other professions and services. It is important to identify which is the case. Some of the anger is wholly justified and understandable. This energy needs to be given direction and positive effect. We ethically have to help this process. | Please note that the presence of adverts does not constitute a recommendation.
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