Life at the sharp end of social work

Hi everybody!

I'm a social worker. I work in a specialist learning disability service in a Scottish local authority setting as part of the assessment and care management team. I've been around social work for nearly 19 years and the last eight has been in this care sector in various forms.

I never thought about blogging before really. It's an interesting notion. I need to get my head round what I can talk about and what I can't. The thing about social work is the confidentiality. I need to be careful I don't identify anyone at all.

I get frustrated by the restrictions on resources. I get frustrated by the bureaucracy I have to work with because it stifles creative and imaginative thinking. Then I think a bit more and wonder about what the bureaucracy is really all about - gate keeping, managing resources and actually putting pressure on people like me to agree to placing very vulnerable or very challenging people in situations that they should never be in because it meets the resource agenda.

I was 'asked' recently about placing a young man with an autistic spectrum disorder in an existing resource that in no way meets his needs or even addresses his unique presentation. I then found myself in a situation where I was expected to provide reasons why the man could/should not be placed in this setting. I turned it back by pointing out that the idea did not fit with the man's Person Centred Plan and asking for a justification why the idea should even be considered. I understand I upset a member of the senior mangement team. Is this a positive or a negative? - Answers on a didgitial postcard please.