Samantha Morton backs hard-hitting campaign to recruit social workers

The Oscar-nominated actor Samantha Morton spoke yesterday of the “wonderful” social workers who supported her as a child, as she helped to launch a national campaign aimed at recruiting more people into the profession.

Morton is backing a campaign to recruit more than 5,000 social workers for vulnerable children, adults and families.

The Help Give Them a Voice TV campaign will feature celebrities including the actor and fashion designer Sadie Frost, the former EastEnders star Michelle Ryan, Emilia Fox, of Silent Witness fame, musician Goldie, Skins star Nicholas Hoult and Joanna Page, who plays Stacey in the hit TV series Gavin and Stacey.

The campaign comes amid fears that the furore over the death of Baby P has discouraged people from choosing social work as a career.

The recruitment drive aims to attract social workers who have left the profession and people looking for a career change, as well as people making initial career choices.

Morton, who was looked after in care in Nottingham as a child, said: “My early life from infancy to leaving home at 16 was spent in care. I had some wonderful social workers who supported me and helped me achieve my goals in life.

“That’s why it’s important to recruit more social workers. There are many people out there, whether they be children, families, vulnerable adults, even the aged, who need a social worker.

“I want to enable them to have the support they need. Help us to help them, and maybe one day they may help you.”

The children’s secretary, Ed Balls, launching the campaign alongside Morton, said: “Thousands of children and families desperately need the help and support social workers give in difficult and sometimes dangerous situations.

“Yet the success stories of the nation’s social workers are rarely heard and research shows that many people don’t even know what social workers really do.

“This hard-hitting campaign will mean a big step towards raising the profile of their work and showing what social workers deal with every day.”