Protecting Our Children: Video insights 4 - 7

Team meeting

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James:
Just to acknowledge it’s quite busy at the moment.

I don’t think it’s particularly um, a numbers game which has been busy although it’s got busier numbers the last day or two. But I don’t think that’s not the issue, it’s the scale of things coming in. We’re not, we’re getting quite a lot of big things coming through which is taking quite a lot of time. I got people who are doing caseloads of 18, 19 which seems entirely reasonable but then you look at what their having to do and it’s a bit of a nightmare.

We’ve got three sets of procedures in the team, fourth one on its way, probably Lou. Let alone the private proceedings, which is more than normal. I counted recently; we had fifteen families in child protection case conference, normally we got four or five.

Anyway, just to acknowledge that and say thank you because people are mucking in, people are taking cases where it’s not their turn to take them because they know the person on duty is struggling.

People are going out and helping people with joint visits.

I’m hoping it will ease but I have nothing of evidence to say it will do.

Cassie:
James, you know that point you said about doing your own work on the duty desk, Is there any way of stopping your calls coming through? Cus it’s really hard once you’ve answered a phone to a family to stop them and stop them in their tracks and to say look, I’m on duty today I’ll ring you tomorrow, it’s really difficult and it happens a lot.

James:
I wonder whether we could talk to whoever’s on reception and ask them to only put things through to the social worker if it’s an urgent matter otherwise to take a matter when their on duty.

The problem is they’ll get confused because some people will ring through about duty matters.

Person 1:
If it’s really busy on duty assumingly, then you can say your on duty and you have this, this and this to do. I’ve got a CP coming in this morning; I have got to give that my attention at the moment.

It’s about prioritising isn’t it, working out how much priority to give things. Which we do all the time really anyway.

Cassie:
I think it’s actually more difficult to get the professionals off sometimes because they kind of feel like, well you’re in the office and you’re the social worker why do I have to ring you tomorrow? I always feel like I’m copping out when like…

Person 2:
It’s not though, because it’s your priority, isn’t it and it is basically getting that message across and saying I’m busy with child protection stuff today.

James:
There’s a different slightly separate issue here as well is about how that difficult bit of being able to tell somebody that I know you’re really worried about this but I can’t talk it through to you for an hour, on the phone because I have got other more pressing matters to deal with.

Person 3:
Especially when you work full time.

James:
Yeah, it’s really difficult.

I get it with families but the harder ones are the lot of professionals we have worked with who are seeking a lot of support from us and I can understand why to some degree we offer that to them but there has to be a limit to it. People have to understand that there are times when we are going to get back to them and were not going to get, you don’t get an immediate response because everything does not need an immediate response, in fact some things even need thinking through.

Munro Report

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Caption on screen:
Within a month of coming to power the coalition government asked Professor Eileen Munro to review childcare protection practice

Cassie (Child protection social worker):
Eileen Munro’s report is a really great document you know and she makes some really valid points.

Dealing with the vast amounts of bureaucracy that social workers have to deal with and the, the time scales that we have to meet and how that actually impacts on social workers being able to do good quality social work.

And we spend probably around 70 percent of our time at our desks doing paperwork. It takes us away from working with the families and going out, you know into the community.

One of the positive things that have come out of it is, hopefully the duplication was highlighted. If you’ve done um, a core assessment and a, and a case conference report and then you go on to do um, a court statement. It’s the same information over and over again, just duplicated and you do sometimes think my goodness.

We have to meet lots of timescales, so often we’ve got to do a report within a couple of days. So if the government are able to make the changes that Eileen Munro recommends then hopefully the impact would be better quality assessments because we’ve got more time and you know we can get to know the families and the children better, and, without worrying about is this report going to be late and I understand why the, the timescales are there but it does add pressure to being a social worker.

Caption on screen:
The report came at a time of central and local government cutbacks.

Cassie (Child protection social worker):
Bristol City Council have got to, you know make massive, massive cuts it’s impossible. And we’ve lost lots of, you know huge amounts of resources we’ve lost WISH the domestic violence project, we’ve, we’ve lost the, Barnardo’s the project that go in and work with the under 5s. And we’re supposed to be doing more preventative work and it’s, it’s impossible you know it’s, it’s even harder now than it was before the report came out.
We’re supposed to be raising the standard of social work with less.

I guess I fear that the council are going to save money by making the team smaller or, or desk hopping.

I like the fact that I, you know my desk is in a, in an office where I feel safe, it’s where I come back to. It’s where all my team members are, where all my support is and I just feel that, that makes me strong and capable to do the job in the first place, so if, if that was to go I would feel quite isolated and it would make, it would make me review whether I wanted to stay in social work or not.

Munro makes some really, really good points but again it’s, it’s only as useful as, as it’s implemented really.

At the end of the day if we’re not having more social workers and more resources and it doesn’t, it’s not really gonna help us.

Positive visit

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Caption on screen:
Two parents, known to social workers, have been arrested following a family argument.

As there were children present, Cassie needs to visit the home.

Cassie (Child protection social worker):
I needed to talk to mum about the referral that had come through and it was via the health visitor but it was actually about the domestic violence incident that had happened in the front garden between um, herself and the children’s father.

I needed to go and talk to mum about this really to see what, what she provided as her reasoning for what had happened, you know, what was that over, why did that occur because we don’t want it occurring again.

Did they explain to you why I was coming out?

Mum:
No, no.

Cassie:
When there’ve been incidents where the police have been called (Mum – Yeah) we get notified (Mum – Yeah you do yeah) anyway.

Cassie:
OK so this, this incident here I’m a bit worried that (Mum – That was just me) was, was that building up for you.

Mum:
Yeah it was just like everything on top of each other it’s just things that are constantly in your head and just like it just all builds up dunnit, and just phow. (Cassie – Yeah) I just gone mad. You just gotta let it out sometimes. (Cassie – Yeah) I had to let it out didn’t I.

Cassie:
Well it did, it did say the children were in bed (Mum – Yeah they were asleep yeah) you know so they. Yeah, what I don’t want is obviously every time something like this happens (Mum – No) you get us coming round and having to.

Mum:
Yeah I know I’ve been waiting for it like all week, cos I knows how it rolls but no it don’t happen often.

Cassie:
No, no.

It hasn’t, I haven’t kicked off for ages.

I think she knew what I was getting, she knew the concerns and she knew why I was there because she, I didn’t even really need to say, she kept saying oh it happened because of, she knew it couldn’t happen again it wasn’t, it wasn’t like she was trying to justify that everyone argues like that and it’s fine, she knew it wasn’t fine.

Is there anything like obviously just to prevent the, the build up and the blow ups so that there isn’t like a great big, you know crisis.

Mum:
Yeah but it was just like things that couldn’t be helped really.

Mum:
Getting Daisy to school and things like that.

Cassie:
Yeah.

Mum:
That’s no problem now she’s got brilliant attendance and everything.

Cassie:
Brilliant, excellent.

Mum:
And her reading’s brilliant now.

Cassie:
What books have you got? Lets have a look.

Daisy:
Castle Garden.

Cassie:
Oh wow.

Daisy:
[inaudible] and the bear that couldn’t growl.

Mum:
Got three today.

Cassie:
Wow and you read all the titles.

Cassie:
I have actually had those children on my case load briefly for about a month um, before, quite a while ago now and mum was really quite depressed, she was really down, she wasn’t getting the children to school and the learning mentor was coming to the house to take them to school, but as you can see when, when we went round there she, she was really well.

Cassie:
Well you look a lot better than when I last saw you.

Mum:
Oh I feel so much better.

Cassie:
Yeah?

Cassie:
I’m even helping out at the school fair. What have you done, what have you done. What did you do. You want a towel. I’m even helping out at the school fair, everything these days.

Girl:
Help me.

Cassie:
Did you hurt your toe?

Girl:
Yeah.

Cassie:
Oh dear.

Mum:
You’re ever so melodramatic ??

Girl:
On the chair.

Mum:
Oh on the chair. Naughty chair.

Cassie:
On that visit there were three children and half way through a conversation you get interrupted and, and you might be on an important point and then it’s gone and it can be quite difficult to keep them, the seriousness and the momentum of the visit.

What I’ll do Sarah is like, like you know, as you know we come round and visit and then um, I’ll write up the (Mum – Watch it) assessment and then let you know the outcome you know. I mean the likelihood is I’m, I’m gonna close it. Next week I’ll give you a ring and have a chat because obviously it’s difficult (Mum – Yeah I know) with them coming in and out but thank you so much.

Mum:
That’s all right thank you.

Cassie:
Sometimes you can’t always have quite as frank a discussion as you, you want to have so you have to kind of select the main points that you need to get across there and then immediately, so then you would make sure that you did at least those things and then make an appointment to go back maybe when they were at school.

Additional responsibilities

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James:
I want to keep going back to it, about when it would be the right time for you to consider taking a student.

Cassie:
When do they, when will they?

James:
You need to do the five day training course first.

Cassie:
I’ve done that.

James:
You’ve done that?

Cassie:
Yeah.

James:
Okay, um… so it’s a matter of when you feel ready to take one.

Cassie:
I just don’t want to be overloaded with my own caseloads and doing the PQ and being responsible for someone else’s supervision or whatever.

James:
Yes it’s a it’s a, it’s how useful the student will be when you do the PQ5 and I mean I would reduce your caseload.

Cassie:
Mm…

James:
Or your workload.

Cassie:
Okay.

James:
To fit, but that’s only so much of a promise isn’t it?

Cassie:
Yeah.

Cassie:
Okay, go on then.

James:
So, have a think about it, go have a read about the PQ5.

Cassie:
No it’s, I don’t mind doing it because I am going to get stuck aren’t I at PQ5, if I haven’t got anything to write about.

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