News@www.adoption-net.co.uk
This story published May 10, 2001
Social workers 'sensitive and reliable'
While the public may have a rather dim view of social workers in England, across the border in Scotland a new survey shows people hold them in much higher esteem.
Research by the Scottish Exective has revealed that of those who had had contact with social services 72 per cent found that they were sensitive to their needs and 68 per cent said they were quick to respond.
And 77 per cent of those questioned said that social workers were reliable and did what they said they were going to do.
One parent described the service she received for her disabled child as 'superb, brilliant' and a foster carer said: "The training is excellent...it helps you with your own children, it gives you an insight into how these children behave...you meet other carers...when you have a crisis you know you are not the only one."
Another woman attending a young offenders group said her social worker was "always there for me, [she] believed in me in all the bad times".
The Scottish survey comes after a recent poll in England which concluded that many people believed that social workers were meddlesome and bureaucratic.
The annual social work report of the Scottish social work services inspectorate (SWSI) - Changing for the future Social work services for the 21st Century - makes no recommendations because social services departments are "already making changes arising from new legislation, from Scottish Executive initiatives and from our previous reports".
But it did draw two key conclusions:
"Unless the serious problems faced in recruiting and retaining staff are firmly and urgently addressed, locally and nationally, then services will deteriorate. For the many thousands who depend on them, and for their families, that would be tragic," the report says.
The independent survey, which questioned more than 2,000 people across Scotland, found that 52 per cent of the people surveyed had contacted social services either for themselves or for someone else. Three quarters knew how to contact social services should they need to.
Of those who could give an opinion, at least 70 per cent felt that social services do a good job and 56 per cent felt that education, health and social work services worked well together - though almost a quarter answered 'don't know' to this question.
The report says: "The enthusiasm and commitment of front-line staff was often very clear, as were their interpersonal and social skills.
"What was particularly noticeable, was the high praise for the quality of the people directly delivering the services - the social workers, occupational therapists and social care staff."
Among areas for improvement were the assessment processes in children's services which "too often" seemed unclear "from both the child's and the professional's perspective".
People who used services were also frequently concerned about the number of places they needed to visit or contact to get services.
The survey found that the most commonly contacted services were home helps, advice about housing benefit and debt and residential homes for older people. Adoption and fostering were among the least commonly contacted services.
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