There are too many people watching - and too few helping

Social workers are under a lot of pressure, and the negative effects are there for all to see - issues with staff turnover, high caseloads, vicarious trauma, a culture of unpaid overtime, and a negative public image - and that is before we talk about the pressure of working with people in times of crisis.

One stressor that is rarely discussed is the impact on social workers of being constantly scrutinised. From the press and government, through to Social Work England, Ofsted, auditors, Independent Reviewing Officers, the courts, and guardians, there is immense pressure to be perfect.

In a typical set of court proceedings, where parents are being assessed whilst their child is in foster care, a group of anywhere between 12- 20 people might be involved in overseeing, shaping, and critiquing a social worker’s practice.

Now imagine that multiplied by the 20-40 children a social worker might be allocated to support at any one time. Many of those people will never meet the child in person, while others will shape their entire views of what is in the child’s best wishes based on one or two visits.

Social workers also face the scrutiny of institutional oversight of their practice. Subject to the stress of potential fitness to practice complaints submitted to Social Work England, Ofsted inspections, internal and external auditors, and a wider sense of government and press negativity, social workers can often be left feeling like we are practising in a panopticon - everyone is potentially looking at our practice and waiting for us to fail, yet we do not always know if we are being watched or not until the dreaded ‘your case has been chosen for audit’ e-mail is received.

I genuinely cannot think of any other set of professionals that have so many people watching them.

I am not arguing against social workers being accountable or suggesting that challenging our interventions and assessments is unnecessary - both propositions are preposterous and would surely leave children at risk.

However, I would suggest that there are far too many people watching social workers and far too few helping us.

I would also suggest that those who are scrutinising the practice of social workers should always do so from the position of what is best for the child themselves and, in doing so, ensure that children are seen regularly.

It should not be accepted that life-changing opinions about a child’s future are being proffered by people who perhaps have only seen them once or twice.

In all my years in this profession I have never once had a child or family ask for more oversight of my practice as a social worker, or for another person they have never met to offer an opinion on what is in their best interests.

Instead, they ask me for things such as earlier access to CAMHS, parenting support, help finding employment, assistance with moving home, funds to buy groceries, access to youth clubs and counselling.

No matter how much I am audited, how many addendum reports I am asked to file, how many duplicated assessments I must produce, how many panels I am called to, or how many aspects of my care plans are amended, I am unable to provide any of these things that children and families themselves are asking for.

Although, if I had more people helping me do my job and less people watching me do it, I just might be able to give children and families what they want.

That, for me, is what collaborative working means - everyone pulling together for the same goal of keeping children safe, happy, and in their own family homes wherever possible.

Let us all try and work together to achieve those goals, instead of so many people telling social workers how to do it.