Child abuse workers ”lack online skills”

Social workers are in “desperate need” of specialist training in how to spot the warning signs that a child is being targeted for sexual abuse online, according to a survey by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and the NSPCC.
However, the survey involved just 327 members of staff whereas there are currently over 22,000 children’s social workers (out of a total of 87,000 currently employed). A third of all social workers are aged between 45 and 64 and 84 per cent of social work students are women. Roughly five per cent work in the private, voluntary and independent sectors.

Based on the numbers who took part in the survey, the BASW and the NSPCC warned that “over two thirds of social workers felt they needed more support with child protection cases involving online abuse”. Around 50 per cent said they didn’t know what how to recognise the signs of the online sexual abuse of children.

The survey also showed that 49 per cent of social workers reckoned that 25 per cent of their sexual abuse cases involved some form of online abuse, 34 per cent of social workers said they didn’t feel confident about understanding the language used by young people online, and 47 per cent said they were “not knowledgeable” about how young people communicate on social networking sites.

Comments from social workers responding to the survey included “I do not know how the internet works” and “we are way out of our depth and training measures are needed without delay”.

BASW professional officer Nushra Mansuri said: “The number of cases in which the internet plays a part in the grooming and abuse of children is rising, and social workers need to be equipped to recognise the warning signs. Social work educators and employers must keep pace with new technology and training on the risks posed by social media should be an intrinsic part of learning.”

And NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: “It’s worrying that the majority of social workers surveyed by BASW are struggling to understand how online child abuse happens. We know they are doing a tough job under pressure and shouldn’t need to be technology experts but they do need to have a grasp of the basics.”