“Why am I going to confide in someone I
have only known for 5 minutes?”
Those were the words of a seventeen-year
old young man who experienced four changes of social worker during the last 22
months of his life. According to the serious case review report the records
indicate that he saw no one social worker more than five times during that
period.
The young man was subject to a full care
order. He was found hanged and later died in hospital. According to the coroner,
the exact causes of his death still remain unclear.
Vulnerable children and young people cannot
be expected to form trusting relationships with their social workers if the
social worker keeps changing. High turnover of children’s social workers is an
important cause of poor quality and unsafe services. There’s no point wringing
hands and blaming the local authority concerned in this case. Failing to retain
children’s social workers is a national disease which has been going on for
years and years. It’s about time for some more effective medicine.
We need a
national strategy on retention and we need it now.
