New initiative to recruit children’s social workers

Councils across Yorkshire and Humber have launched a two-year campaign to recruit children’s social workers to jobs in the region and raise industry standards.

Children’s Social Work Matters is one of a number of projects that 15 local authorities, which last year dealt with cases involving more than 74,000 children, are collaborating on across the area.

“In our region we viewed this as a call to action. Never before have 15 councils joined forces in this way,” said Alison O’Sullivan, director for children and young people at Kirklees council.

She added: “We want people to have a better understanding of what it’s like to work with vulnerable children and we want to encourage more people to consider it as a career.”

A website, www.childrenssocialworkmatters.org, which features real life video stories from social workers explaining how they manage the challenges and complexities of the job, is a key part of the campaign.

It also features children’s social work “champions” – drawn from participating local authorities – who will deal with online questions about their role and what it takes to be a children’s social worker, working with families often living chaotic and distressing lives.

“It’s important to raise the profile of social work so that people have a deeper understanding of what it’s really like to work with vulnerable children, some of whom are at risk of serious harm,” said Ms O’Sullivan.

Councils involved in the project:

West Yorkshire

Bradford

Calderdale

Kirklees

Wakefield

Leeds

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

York

South Yorkshire

Doncaster

Barnsley

Rotherham

Sheffield

Humber

Hull

East Riding

North Lincs

North East Lincs