By James Simons-
Birmingham social services are under pressure to conduct drug tests, after the eye of media.com confronted them on the need to root out those amongst them flirting with drugs.
The eye of media.com confronted social services in Birmingham about their seemingly none existent no drug policy which inevitably allows social workers to use class A drugs and evade detection . Social workers are empowered to take children from parents addicted on drugs because of the potential harm and effect their reckless life style can have on the children. Parents on drugs tend to be more prone to an atmosphere of domestic violence, and prioritise drugs over adequate feeding and clothing of their children.
Numerous parents have lost their children to social services because they failed a drug test; sometimes the drug being the secondary class B drug namely, marijuana. Multiple cases have occurred in which children have been seized from their parents following the discovery of class A drugs in their system. Yet, the eye of media.com have learned in the past year that social workers on drugs are not as few as one would imagine. Reports of social workers from Birmingham snorting cocaine late into the night, can compromise the quality of their judgment especially if they don’t sleep well enough. Many social workers take cocaine to cope with the huge pressure of the job, but it can also distort their analysis of a case or commitment in time to solve a range of issues in certain families.
There is currently no legal imposition on social services to test their social workers, but there is a known expectations that social workers should not take class A drugs. During a brief but now ongoing campaign to root out the hypocrisy that permits social workers to take drugs on the one hand, whilst punishing drug taking families on the other hand, we got a number of social services organisations in the country to consider implementing drug testing in their borough. Up until our investigation, all social workers in the country could take class A drugs despite the delicate responsibility they have tp make important judgments in problem families, including recommendations to court judges.
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However, social services in Islington, Wandsworth, Surrey, and Stoke on trent, have all promised to consider the implementation of drug testing, which they officially preserve the right to reject. Their willingness to take this on board is an acknowledment on their part that it is important that social workers are definitely drug free because of the work they do in society.
Birmingham social services have tried to play games with us, refusing to put anything in writing to clarify their stance, and refusing to put the required drug testing in place. However, a spokesperson from Birmingham Social Services told the eye of media.com that there was still a ”appropriate process” that must first be undertaken before any official moves can be taken to impose drug testing. They had initially suggested that such a mandate must come from the government, but after we pointed out that the government had in the past given us written confirmation that various boroughs and social services regulators have discretion over drug testing, they changed their tone. ”Enforcing drug testing will not happen overnight, but is something being discussed”, a spokeswoman told the eye of media.com. Social services have a regulator(HCPC) who have full leverage when it comes to policy control. However, this something we are looking at and discussing”.
When the eye of media.com cornered some social workers in Birmingham on Thursday, one woman accused us of picking on social services, saying ” if you understood how much stress we are under, and what efforts we make, you wouldn’t be picking on us. I don’t do drugs, but people in almost all professions have people that take class A drugs, do you want them all tested? She revealed the word had gone round about the drugs investigation many months ago when the eye of media.com first contacted them; adding ”I think if anyone here was on drugs they would have stopped or left already”. Not necessarily. Social workers secure in the knowledge that no drug testing will be conducted will feel they have no reason to alter their behavior, but random drug testing will almost guarantee that those in this highly placed jobs where so many social workers have brought their profession to disrepute, are forced to stick to the same law and standards by which they hold others.
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Professionals in many jobs are tested; there is no important need to drug test people of all professions. Police officers for example, are tested, so are soldiers, and athletes. Teachers and security staff are only CRB checked because the concern of drugs is low in those professions. However, in the event of a drug allegation which may be affecting performance rates, organisation bosses can instruct for a drug test from their employees. People who occupy certain positions should be randomly tested to eliminate the possibility of double standards in those professions.
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