I always knew I wanted to work with children. I worked at a play scheme for children with disabilities- I saw how much children can flourish, and I felt really passionate about this as a career.
I knew people who worked in Early Help, and they discussed Social Work as a career. It is so important to get it right for children first time and I knew this is something I really wanted to do. I don’t think you know what social work is until you are on placement, and you really see what the role is and what support is needed. It’s a role that you have to really experience to understand what it is. It helps to have a good placement at university.
I started as a support worker for children with disabilities. I started my Social Work degree at Anglia Ruskin, then I did my AYSE year with Norfolk. I have stayed in the FAST team and after 3 years in post I got promoted as a Senior Social Worker and in my 4th year at Norfolk I applied to be a team manager. I later became a domestic abuse champion, for which I received additional training and attended a really impactful conference on domestic homicide.
I chose NCC because I liked it’s values- respecting families and building the relationship. The biggest draw was how positive the NIPE programme looked. When I was on the programme, I had 15- 20 days of additional training: neglect, therapeutic work with children, and loads more. I got a budget for additional materials, and I developed creative ways of interacting with children. I also did an on-site supervisor training. Lots of people at Norfolk have the opportunity to take on this additional training. My managers have been amazing at NCC, and I have had lots of opportunities to grow and develop.
As FAST is so fast paced, it can be different day to day. My week starts with our JAGS – joint agency group supervision. This started as a pilot in West Norfolk and is now being rolled out across the county. It’s when all professionals get to join our case supervision, we have a reflective discussion and reflection on the case and the impact of our intervention with the family. I attend strategy discussions, legal planning meetings and case discussions. I will have personal supervision with my Social Workers, which focuses on just them, how they are feeling and things they might want to progress or develop in. Because we now do JAGS separately, personal supervision is able to just focus on the Social Worker, without it becoming about cases instead of them.
My team are on duty every four weeks – on a duty week, we take in any new cases that come through. These can be referrals from school, health, or step-up cases from Family Support. Cases may come through a strategy discussion is a child is at risk of significant harm.
You never know what will happen on duty week and what cases might come through! I am really lucky to have a team who all work together and support each other. We ensure there are at least two people on duty each day to help with emergencies and other cases.
My aspiration is to make sure my team is a supportive and welcoming team. Having been a NIPE, I know how important it is to have the right support and I am determined to make sure new starters in my team have this. I want our new starters to have the opportunity to grow and develop their skills, to enable them to become confident and passionate Social Workers who want to stay in Norfolk.
It is always challenging hearing the trauma and harm some children have been through. I think while you are resilient as a Social Worker, this never stops impacting you – and it shouldn’t, because we care about our children and families. Whilst it is hard at times, I was always really supported by manager to talk about this and how it made me feel. I hope that my Social Workers feel the same about me as a manager and this is the culture I want to be in my team.
At the same time, it’s so rewarding to see such positive outcomes for children and children having decisions made in their timescales. I have seen some families absolutely turn things around. Even in the sadder cases, where the best outcome for the children is not to be at home, seeing those children then thrive and flourish in a secure and safe setting is amazing.
Another rewarding part is often seeing how families pull together. I can think of several cases where parents haven’t been able to care for their child, but a grandparent or an aunt or a sibling has stepped up. It’s always better if children can stay in the family and again sometimes you see such a huge difference once they are with a relative. Even for our children who are in care, this does not mean they don’t see families, or for siblings who are in separate placements, they can still have lots of contact and time together.
For me, it’s so rewarding to see our In Care children continue to have relationships with their birth family, who are often really committed to them even if they can’t care for them. Family networking is a huge part of Norfolk’s remit and I really like this. We have a specific Family Group Conferencing team we can use to pull all the family together and see how they can be supported. I feel Norfolk has such a good range of in-house services, that help better the outcomes for children. One example is Boarding Pathways, where children at risk of being taken into Local Authority care, can instead become full time boarders at some of the Norfolk boarding schools. This is obviously on a case-by-case basis and only in circumstances where it is not possible for children to stay with their families. I have seen young people who have absolutely flourished, and it has been life changing for them. They’ve been able to continue to see family at the weekends and during holidays, whilst getting all the care and support they need for their every day to day lives.
There are lots of different targeted support teams, these are all in-house. We can refer to them, and they then work alongside the Social Worker. I can personally say that I’ve worked lots of cases with these teams and they really do amazing intervention.
I would say that you are not going to know everything, and this is okay! It’s cliché, but there really are no stupid questions. Everything changes so quickly. Make sure you shadow everyone you can, talk to the experienced workers in the team and go out with them.
I would advise not to believe everything you see or read in the media, it can feel scary coming into safeguarding because of this and perhaps what others have said about it to you. There can be lots of negativity around Social Work and Social Workers. I am in no way downplaying how challenging safeguarding can be, however there are so many amazing parts of it and a lot of families just need some support and intervention.
