British Association Of Social Workers Call For Political Parties To Address Children’s Services
By James Simons
The British Association of Social Workers has called on the main political parties to shift children’s services policy towards early intervention
The association published a manifesto this week, warning against the rising numbers of children in care. It said the number of children in care was as a result of the policy being “tipped too far towards removal of children at points of crisis”. The implication is that the best interests of children are compromised by social workers who do not intervene early enough.
Their manifesto called for future government should empower social workers to tackle disadvantage, prevent family separation and provide skilled family interventions to improve outcomes for children and adults, the manifesto said.
It added that “unmanageably high” workloads should be addressed by a future government , which should work with BASW to create a national policy that improves the working context for social workers
Calling for a sustainable funding settlement for adult social care, the group called for more funding for social work university degrees, and for a future government to recognize BASW as the professional body for social work.
“Social work and social workers across the UK need a strong, independent professional body that promotes best practice and self-determination of the profession in the long term,” according to the.
It also called for an end to austerity policies that cause harm to children, adults and families with care and support needs.
The government should also work with BASW and partners across the sector to ensure social workers have manageable workloads, effective organizational models and the right working conditions for excellent practice. A commitment to adequate funding for university education for qualifying social workers, ensuring the numbers of new entrants meets future workforce demand in all fields of practice
Ensure a realistic and sustainable settlement for adult social care across all countries of the UK
The group believe that resourcing and recognition of social work within mental health services needs to be improved and that parity between unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and other young people in care needs to be achieved.