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Social work breeds ‘dependency
culture’
Scotland's social workers may be encouraging a
dependency culture, leading disadvantaged clients to rely on the state
for help rather than standing on their own feet, according to the chair
of the Scottish Executive’s review of the profession. William Roe,
chairman of the 21st Century Social Work group set up by education
minister Peter Peacock, said the issue of dependency was just one of
those the group would have to look at. Speaking ahead of the group’s
first meeting, he also proposed using new technologies such as broadband
to create virtual communities to help counter the “fragmentation and
atomisation” of modern society. He said the group would survey members
of the public to find out which parts of the system were working and
which were not, but said it was vital that public confidence in social
workers was restored.
The independent group was appointed in June following
a series of high-profile organisational failures by several social work
departments across Scotland, including the death of Edinburgh toddler
Caleb Ness and the “Borders Case”, in which social services failed to
act to prevent the abuse of a number of adults and children spanning
decades. The group includes representatives from local authorities,
health boards and the children’s reporters administration. Since Peacock
ann ounced the initial membership it has been joined by Norma Graham,
assistant chief constable of Central Scotland Police; University of
Scotland dementia specialist Professor Mary Marshall; and Colin MacLean,
head of Auchinleck Academy in South Ayrshire, a new community school.
The group will begin planning the future of social work later this month
at a two-day residential meeting in Dunblane. Roe said their task was to
update the work of a profession set up by legislation that was 40 years
old.
Speaking in detail for the first time, he said the
work of the committee would be very different from that carried out in
1966 by the Kilbrandon Com mission, which led to modern social work.
Remarkably, that committee took evidence from just seven people, Roe
said. “They did a great job, but that was 40 years ago and society has
completely changed. We will be open, listening and learning. We will be
inviting people to tell us what they think.” Roe has worked extensively
to improve public services through his work for the private consultancy
Rocket Science, which he helped found. His CV includes work for housing
charity Shelter and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. He
said a system set up before the advent of computers, mobile phones and
even fax machines would inevitably benefit from updating and examination
by an independent body.
“Two of the most significant issues we face today
didn’t exist 40 years ago. People thought that quite soon the RSPCC
could be closed down. The concept of child sex abuse didn’t exist —
society completely denied anything like that happened, and we were
incredibly complacent. Meanwhile, drugs was a non-issue. Now a lot of
the issues social workers face are hugely exacerbated by drugs and
alcohol.” Society needs to decide what it wants from social work and
whether it is willing to pay, he said. The group will look at whether
the role of social workers needs to be refined, and whether they are
being asked to do too much, while acknowledging that society is
increasingly demanding of public services.
“People want better, faster, more personally tailored
services. But we will need to look at whether the way social work is
practised leads to dependency rather than helping people reach their
real potential.
“Could it do more to move them towards getting a job
and becoming as independent as possible? It is about moving from
dependency to creativity. Sometimes, if you do that, a client whom
social services think is not able becomes able,” Roe said.
Meanwhile, alternative forms of social support could
be explored. “What is happening to families? Are they going to continue
to fragment and atomise as has been happening, where people from
different generations live separately?”
In Canada, patient networks using broadband are
helping ill older people to support each other, Roe said, and suggested
such networks could also mitigate social problems. “It is not about
saving money, it is the best way to do it. Older people are often best
placed to manage their situation.”
While stressing that much of the group’s planning has
yet to take place, Roe said he expected consultation to include a survey
of public confidence in various aspects of social work including work
with offenders, with disabled people, older people and child protection.
“We have to understand which parts are working well and have public
confidence.” Roe has already begun to plough through recent reports into
some notorious social work failures in Scotland.
“Our society asks a huge amount from social workers,
who are doing some of the toughest jobs in society. In any system you
will have mistakes, but these ones become very high-profile. What these
cases throw up is that there are parts of the system which don’t work
well. As you look at the reports you can see parts of social work that
people are not so proud of.”
However, the group will not look at problems of
underfunding in social work, he said, and will instead look at what will
be needed over the next 20 years — leaving ministers to work out how to
pay for it.
A spokesman for Unison, which represents the majority
of social workers in Scotland, said members welcomed the review but that
it must look at resourcing. “I can’t imagine a broad-ranging review like
this not coming up with the fact that underfunding must be considered,”
he said.
“The public image of social work also needs to be
looked at. People need to recognise the valuable work social workers do
and avoid using them as scapegoats, as sometimes happens when things go
wrong.”
Stephen Naysmith
08 August 2004
http://www.sundayherald.com/43934
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