Transcript

My name is Victoria Cavolina and I am a social worker, I work within Children's Services, specialising in child protection. In today's simulation I had no script and I had not met the actors in advance of us filming today. They did not know what I was going to ask, and I did not know how they were going to respond, so we had to explore the information in as much of a natural and normal way that a social worker did when meeting a family. So, in terms of planning for the simulation today, I guess I was thinking about some of the initial risks that presented themselves within the case study. So, from my experience I was looking at a teenage girl who was possibly at risk of child sexual exploitation with an older boyfriend, and so I wanted to explore his role within her life and what that might look like. I was also thinking about the capacity of the parents and their insight into why professionals might be concerned. So thinking more broadly around boundaries and their relationship with their daughter, which might be leading to some of the challenging behaviour that the school were noticing. In terms of my reading of mother, Lisa, her body language suggested that she was quite scared, and so I was wondering why she was scared. My general sense was that she was concerned about what might be shared, and that became more apparent as Ellie began to talk about her mother's drinking, but also about the violence within the family home. I was aware that the step-father, Greg, was becoming increasingly aggressive, his body language was quite dominating - pointing fingers, moving around quite a lot, exerting authority within that context and trying to stop information being shared. So as that happened I was aware that mum was becoming quieter, more concerned and was trying to control the situation as best she could. In terms of the tussle with the bag, I wanted to, as much as possible, keep the situation calm. I was aware that simply by directing orders at Greg, the likelihood would be that he would respond aggressively, and I did not think that that would help the relationship with him, but also would l take our conversation down a particular route, probably stopping us from being able to talk and explore some of the concerns. And so my response was to try and calm the situation down, to shift the conversation away from looking at a phone and broaden the conversation out, so that it was less directed at one person. In terms of my rapport with Ellie, I wanted to demonstrate that I recognised that her behaviour was not simply happening in isolation, but was also a result of what was happening within her family, which was why I tried to explain some of my thinking, so that she knew where I was coming from. As far as possible I tried to ask open questions to give her space to tell me information, and so this was about building an initial rapport and relationship in which should would be heard for her own sake, not simply, kind of, told off. So I did not ask Ellie the full name or details of her boyfriend. My main reasoning for doing that was that it changes the tone of the conversation, rather than exploring their relationship, their dynamic, it then becomes a conversation which is seeking information and so becomes very much about detail. What I wanted to hear was the nature of their relationship, to better assess the risk. In regards to the ending of the visit, a number of risks had presented themselves, and would need further exploration and some tying up. It takes a huge amount of courage for a family to share any kind of information that is private, particularly with someone that they have never met before, and so I wanted to show them that I respected that. But what they had shared was of concern and would require further assessment. So today was about summarising what they had shared with me, acknowledging that, and making sure that I had got that information correct, and was not just assuming things and leaving enough space to begin to develop a conversation outside of that initial visit. In regards to professional judgement, that is something that social workers actively engage in all the time. So, right from the beginning I strongly feel that relationships are really important with children and young people, but also with their parents and their families, because that is the only mechanism by which you can really achieve change. I was aware that given the dynamics between Ellie, her mum and her step-dad that she was not going to tell me a lot of information with them in the room, and that it would be more helpful to contain some of that conversation for a future visit, without them there... seeking information. There are times when you cannot wait until another future visit, and you need to seek information in that moment, because you need to take immediate steps to safeguard children. So you would find a way to do that, explaining to families why you need that information, and what your concerns are, to help them understand your attitude and your approach. In terms of theory, I have been particularly influenced by thinking around systemic family therapy and the importance of watching the different relationships between a family. So from my perspective, my assessment was taking place whilst the family were talking, so not simply in what they said, but in also how they behaved and how they communicated with one another. And so when I was silent, it was not simply a case of not necessarily knowing what to say, or not knowing what to do, but it was an active choice to be quiet and to watch how they interacted. I would also think about the importance of exploring their own motivation to change, because that helps us to think about capacity of parents, and to think about how we might address the concerns that were presenting themselves. And it would also determine the level of intervention we might need, because if parents are highly motivated to change, you might think about a less intensive intervention, and a more therapeutic kind of support. Whereas, if there is a real resistance to change, sometimes that might need a more serious or escalated intervention from Children's Services. The fact that Lisa and Greg had engaged with the school to talk about Ellie's behaviour, the fact that they shared information with me, are all signs that they would want to change how they work as a family. I think I would be concerned about the domestic violence, and the on-going impact of that dynamic within the family home and within the parental relationship, because that will affect how they respond to anything else, and so that would be a big obstacle. So engaging Greg in a helpful way, to help him address his behaviour, would need to be thought about, and I would also be thinking about the emotional impact on all family members. My general sense and impression would be that there is a long way to go, and that Ellie has evidently seen and heard a variety of things happening with her and her family, and that that is causing her to react in particular ways. So helping her to recognise her own emotional journey would have been an important part of where we would go next. In regards to tips for other social workers or training social workers, from my perspective I think it is important to know that you are never going to get everything perfect, and usually there is a chance to try again and to recognise that families are people too. So you can apologise, you can explain where you are coming from as a means of building a relationship, and it's important to speak in such a way that you leave space for them to respond to you in a way that is open, because I think that is probably the best basis for a relationship. In terms of being involved in today's simulation, it's a bit of a nerve-racking thing having your practice put on display, but it's helpful to reflect on that, and that will definitely be help in my own practice, just thinking about how I do things on a more regular basis. In terms of outcomes from the simulation today, I was pleased that we got to a point where the family had talked not just about what was happening, but about how they were feeling. That felt like a real moment of buy-in from them, and a really clear moment that they might cooperate with me in the future. So that was a good way to both end, but also in the future as a good place to start from, so that felt like a success.