A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokeswoman confirmed that the 6,800 people who had enquired had all requested further information about a career in social work.What I still wonder is, what type of training is needed in the UK to become a social worker?
As I noted a while back, Britain seems to be going through a bit of a social work crisis of late - more than half the articles I find online are about child welfare over there. And from what I read, the main role of social workers is safety monitoring and removal of kids.
Working in "prevention" (which means "connected to the child welfare system") in NYC, I am learning a lot about what doesn't work here, but I also see a lot of variety and depth - programs focusing on family systems and not just enforcement. Even ACS' Improved Outcomes for Children initiative (IOC) is an attempt at a family-orriented and strength-based approach (in my experience so far, its not really functioning, but that's another matter). Is child welfare more nuanced here, or am I only seeing one side of things through the British media?
More on this later, but in the meantime, maybe we need advertisements promoting social work here in the U.S. Anyone got any money for an ad campaign? Or know any celebrities?
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Britain, just like America, just like Australia and most other developed western countries, has the same strengths and weaknesses in it's child welfare system with slight variation. There is a lot of variety in programs- early intervention, child protection etc. The media is always going to give a skewed picture of social work in child welfare and i don't know why anyone would trust their assessment. I believe that in all western countries, an increase in early intervention and family support programs and the increased funding of existing programs is needed, and this is where an understanding of the social construction of abuse and neglect is necessary in order to target funding and build protective factors in vulnerable populations.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question- from my experience as a worker in the states,the uk and australia, and from reading and research, no- child welfare is not more nuanced in the U.S..
Britain has a great need for social workers, but that is because the lack of appropriate remuneration puts people off the profession!