PEOPLE who work to protect children from harm or abuse are never far away from the media spotlight. More often than not it’s on those occasions when something goes wrong.
Few will have failed to be touched by the shocking details of the latest case to bear testament to this – the tragic life and death of Baby P.
And once again harsh questions are asked about a profession that can apparently allow such things to happen.
Social work often seems more like a poisoned chalice than a career path. A job that has wrongly become defined by the slogan – damned if you do, damned if you don’t. But one thing’s for sure, if you look beyond the headlines you’ll find teams of dedicated, hard-working professionals across Wigan and beyond, all ready to suffer the slings and arrows for one exceptional reason…they care.
So when Borough Life took a look at the world of safeguarding children and asked the question:
Who'd be a SOCIAL WORKER? We didn't have to look far for the answer.
ROISIN McLaughlin wanted to be a teacher. But when she was given the chance to work alongside a team of child social workers as part of her studies, she knew it was what she wanted.
“I found it really interesting,” says the 27 year-old who hails from Salford. “It was fair to say that even back then it didn’t really have a very glamorous image but for me it was a chance to actually work with people – children and families.
“And the most important part of the job for me was going out to meet people and hopefully help them to overcome the problems they were having.”
Roisin joined Wigan Council’s Children in Need team four years ago. Working from her base at Ince Town Hall, Roisin is one of a group of dedicated social workers covering the borough.
Each day she’s out meeting with families and every day is different.
“It’s the variety that appealed to me,” she says. “Everyone has different issues and different problems to deal with and helping them to do this is the challenge, but it’s also the reward.
“My job is to support families in safeguarding children. I am not here to do the job of parents – it is all about working with them to sort out any difficulties they may be having that are affecting the welfare of their children.”
Families in need of help are identified in a number of ways.
“It can be through the police, a teacher, health visitor or other professional who works with a family and raises concerns,” says Roisin.
“Other times it can be a phone call directly to the team from a family member, friend or neighbour who has seen or heard something that has alarmed them. From there we try to arrange to visit the family.
“We’d usually try and arrange this beforehand over the phone but sometimes, when we cannot contact them, we just have to knock on the door.”
Often it is allegations of child abuse or neglect that prompts professionals like Roisin to get involved with a family. Whatever the reason they have one golden rule when calling on a family – don’t judge. “We are walking into other people’s lives,” says Roisin, “We have to go into the situation with an open mind.
“Everyone is different and so everyone’s problems are different. We have to work with the family, speak to the parents and speak to the child to find out what’s best for them.”
An action plan is drawn up which may include support from others.
“This can include finding out what kind of support is available for managing the children, such as services offered by children’s centres, through to help with health and hygiene issues, drug and alcohol misuse and anger management.”
In a very few cases more drastic steps have to be taken to protect the child, but the vast majority are resolved with some short-term or ongoing help.
“It’s a side of social work that few people ever see but to work with a family and help them to realise what their problems are and start to overcome them is the best feeling in the world.”
Children's champion Cllr Susan Loudon says: “My fear is that the bad press that social workers got nationally as a result of the Baby P tragedy will have an impact on recruitment.
“This would be a disaster as more than ever before we need dedicated caring people who want to work helping to protect vulnerable children.
“Nobody can say that a similar tragedy could never happen here. But I do believe that in Wigan we have agencies like the council, police and health all working well together – and a dedicated team of social workers like Roisin who do their utmost to protect the children in their care.”
If you have any concerns about the well being of a child then you can phone 01942 828300.
