Author: admin

ASK YOUR CANDIDATES TO SIGN THE SWAN IRELAND 12 POINT REFORM PROGRAMME

Posted : by admin

 

You can do your bit to get candidates to endorse the charter by emailing them and sending them to the link to the online petition containing the charter and 12 point reform programme. The petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-call-for-government-to-support-swan-s-urgent-12-point-reform-charter

You can find your local candidates details here: http://www.wheel.ie/election2016_Voters

Make sure to tell the candidates to include their party/affiliation when they sign and tell them why signing the charter is important to you.

SWAN supporters are also asked to support the principles in the Charter.

Thanks for doing your bit for social justice ahead of #GE16. Let us know how you get on and who signs the charter by tweeting us @SWAN_IRL or find us on Facebook at “Social Work Action Network Ireland”.

Sincerely,
The SWAN Ireland National Steering Committee

ELECTION 2016: Social Work Network Demands Urgent ‘Reform Programme’

Posted : by admin

 

  • All social work and probation vacancies will be filled;
  • The salaries of newly qualified social workers will be those negotiated with the trade unions. No moves will be made to cut the salaries of new workers, neither should social work students be used to ‘fill the gaps’, acting as temporary substitutes for unfilled, paid posts. Jobsbridge and similar ‘workfare’ schemes will be immediately terminated;
  • In order to prevent the continuing displacement and impoverishment of children and their families, the government will begin an immediate programme of building 40,000 social houses over its lifetime in government, as part of an overall strategy to deal with homelessness and the housing crisis.
  • Quality public sector home-care services will be drastically increased to enable more elderly people to remain at home, and adequate structures will be put in place to ensure the voices of older people are central to the provision of care packages.
  • The full implementation of ‘Vision for Change’ will occur with particular attention being given to the reform of manifestly inadequate addiction services, with specific emphasis on embedding interagency working with people present with multiple and complex needs;
  • A nationwide 24-hour social work service, staffed by a dedicated team of practitioners, will be established. This service will not be founded on social workers being compelled to fulfil a role in this service on a rota basis;
  • Travellers will be recognised as a ‘minority ethnic’ population within the state;
  • All prisoners will be guaranteed timely access to a social worker;
  • In line with the state’s human rights obligations, emergency measures will be put in place to address the conditions, amounting to institutionalised abuse, encountered by children and their families within the ‘direct provision’ system. Children will be safeguarded and protected and their rights, identified in the UN Convention, will be respected. The systemic exclusion of asylum seekers from daily life and civil society will cease.
  • The Habitual Resident Condition which is punitive and has prompted hardship and distress will be scrapped;
  • Immediate action will be taken to meaningfully address the global refugee crisis;
  • Ratification of the UN Declaration on the Rights for People with disabilities will occur.

Swan’s Iain Ferguson writes about Fromm, and alternatives to neo-liberal ideologies.

Posted : by admin

Yet protests, strikes and grassroots political engagement are all growing, calling out for genuine alternatives to the Austerity Agenda.

Iain Ferguson contributes an essay on Fromm, and the place of his work when thinking of a saner, fairer modern society. You can access this free resource below: 

Between Marx and Freud: Erich Fromm Revisited

Swan Response to Cameron’s Call For The ‘Take Over’ of Children’s Services.

Posted : by admin

 

Most vulnerable children let down by government’s austerity agenda.

David Cameron’s announcement today on Child Protection policy threw into stark relief the gap between the government’s public relations based commitment to child protection services, and the harsh economic reality of huge cuts to the social work and other children’s services upon which abused children, the most vulnerable of all the UK’s citizens, depend.

An independent Financial Times report in July 2015 showed that Child Protection services in England have in fact been forced to cut spending by 8% since 2010, in direct contrast to the Government’s claim to support such services as a result of George Osborne’s austerity drive.

The biggest expenditure by local councils is now on a combination of social services, public health and welfare benefits. Despite the U-turn on tax credits, welfare spending overall will be cut by £12 billion by 2020

There remains no evidence that simply privatising Child Protection provision produces service improvement. 78 per cent of children’s homes in England & Wales are not in community hands. Yet 28 per cent of privately owned children’s homes are below a good standard, while 63 privately run homes are in the worst ‘inadequate’ category.

The Government states that it is exploring how to find ‘improvements in the market’ to provide better outcomes for children. The assumption is that the market will find the solution. There is little or no evidence to support that view.

Personal Social Services Research Unit reveal that the annual cost of placement in a private children’s home is £4000 per week, whereas local authority care costs £3000 (by comparison a foster care placement costs £637). Therefore it is extraordinary that over a quarter of private sector homes cannot provide a good level of care when they receive £50,000 a year per child.

Advanced Childcare Limited, Britain’s largest provider of children’s homes, is owned by a US private equity firm GI Partners. One third of its 130 homes in England are below a good standard.

The NSPCC report entitled ‘How Safe Are Our Children 2014’, says demand for support and intervention has been growing as more families are suffering financially, and more people are willing to identify abuse and demand action in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. It says early intervention services which might support families to stay on track and prevent problems escalating – such as childrens’ centres or domestic violence services – have been cut back. This will store up even more costs and problems for later, it adds.

Local Government, where Social Work services are based, faces a 40 per cent real terms cut to core government funding over the life of the parliament; consistently reducing council tax referendum thresholds; £1bn cut to local council tax support funding to April 2016. Yet the local government association submission to the recent spending review states that councils have faced sharply increased demand for childrens’ social care since the Peter Connolly case in November 2008, resulting in a 22 per cent rise in referrals, a 65 per cent rise in children subject to a child protection plan and a 16 per cent increase in the number of children in care.

The clear economic case is demonstrated by independent reports from throughout the Child Protection world: continuously increasing caseloads for local government social workers at the same time as the most significant cuts to funding for vital child protection services. Instead of focussing on saving services for abused children the government is resorting to PR & spin, in order to place the profitable privatisation of children’s services at the heart of its policy.

Privatisation and profit for the shareholders of big multinationals are placed at the heart of Government policy, and the neglected and abused children that Social Workers work with every day are a clear second.

 

14.12.15 

Links

https://www.socialworkfuture.org/

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1153448/child-protection-will-struggle-to-cope-with-spending-review-cuts

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/research-reports/how-safe-children-2015-report.pdf

10th Annual Swan Conference JUNE 4TH

Posted : by admin

 

It is with great regret that we are having to change the format and location of our annual gathering for 2016. Despite great efforts from our wonderful South West England local Swan group, a two day event in the University of Bristol became completely unaffordable. Perhaps symptomatic of the the marketisation of our learning spaces, this has been a very frustrating situation. We are now in the midst of organising a ONE DAY EVENT in London on June 4th. Moving to the capital allows us to benefit from excellent transport links and available venues at short notice, but we acknowledge how wonderful it would have been to be hosted by the South West of England. 

A more detailed statement and further information regarding the availability of and how to book tickets, as well as workshops and speakers will be uploaded here soon. Watch this space! We are looking forward to seeing you! 

 

 

Greetings From Samos! The Container Has Arrived!

Posted : by admin

In fact, it was SO large that an entire cargo container was sent to Samos, where social worker and Professor Chris Jones is helping to coordinate relief. The container finally arrived earlier this week. Both Chris and Swan wish to send a truly monumentous thank you to all who made the collection and delivery possible. True solidarity in the face of racist and inhumane international policy. Read Chris’ letter here:

 

“The container has arrived and been unpacked!

What a monster and never in our lives have we seen such a big spaced so tightly packed. And to break the seal and open the doors to see all these faces of little teddy bears poking from behind the boxes and bags gave us a laugh. Just two days before it arrived, one of our group was saying that small teddy bears were the most treasured toys for the young children when they land on the beaches. They seem to give a lot of comfort so we were delighted to find so many in the container.

What can we say? Thank you does not say enough about how we feel. We didn’t expect so many of the bags and boxes to be labelled which made an enormous difference to our unloading; we simply didn’t expect so much and all of it will be so useful for the refugees – the blankets, sleeping bags, tents, mats and of course shoes……baby clothes…toiletries…..tooth brushes/paste and on and on. And all such good stuff.

The container represents a huge effort and we really hope you can communicate to as many of those involved as possible- the students and staff of your department and Liverpool Hope University more widely, the Social Work Action Network, members of trade unions including Unison and not least those in Scotland who paid for the container to be sent: Our deepest gratitude. It really is going to make a difference to many refugees coming to Samos especially as winter is coming.

But as you know well, we in our group on Samos, like many others are furious at the responsible powers in Europe for their utter failure to respond with humanity and solidarity to the exodus of refugees coming to Europe. It is no exaggeration to say that the burden of care for the arriving refugees on all of the Greek frontier islands including Samos has fallen on the shoulders of the people, who have been magnificent. But quite bluntly, we should not have to do this and we would not have to do it if the issue was seen as a humanitarian crisis instead of it being seen as a heavily racist framed security problem.

Our interventions in this context are fundamentally concerned with solidarity. We engage with the refugees and work with them to make sure that we can meet some of their most pressing needs. Working together builds solidarity between us and most importantly between the refugees themselves. We rarely have enough so sharing becomes really important and will be if they are going to survive their onward march from Samos to the north of Europe.

As I write the refugees are continuing to arrive in significant numbers. There are sharp daily fluctuations depending on sea conditions but still we are talking in hundreds of arrivals every day. Since Paris and with the development of the Hotspot in Samos Town we are seeing the emergence of a clear two-tiered system which is very depressing. The Syrians – around 60 to 70% of arrivals- are gathered in the Hotspot on the port. That is where the main resources from the big NGOs and other voluntary groups, as well as state resources are concentrated. Conditions are not great but there is more shelter now and more resources generally in terms of food and clothing. But as the security checks and fingerprinting take more time, they are no longer moving off the island as quickly. In the meantime all other nationalities are sent to the Camp about 1km out of the town centre up a remote hillside. The gates are no longer closed indeed there is now an overspill of refugees camping outside the perimeter fence. Yesterday there were 1,300 refugees in the Camp. It feels to be a largely abandoned place and the conditions and overcrowding are Medieval. Many will spend up to 2 weeks in these conditions waiting for their paper which will allow them to move on from the island. This is where we will be concentrating our effort and already we have started to distribute sleeping bags, blankets and not least tooth brushes (in huge demand)!

Enough!

You and all who helped need to know that the words ‘Liverpool Container’ brings a lot of smiles to many of us on Samos. It is real solidarity and means a lot.

Warmest greetings

Chris

(On behalf of our group!)

Samos updates can be found on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Samos-Refugees-%CE%A0%CF%81%CF%8C%CF%83%CF%86%CF%85%CE%B3%CE%B5%CF%82-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B7-%CE%A3%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%BF-876937855721695/

 

                                                   

                                                                   

 

                                         

 

 

 

SWAN Ireland Survey

Posted : by admin

Hi all,

Please find below, a link to a small survey that has been complied to find out about people’s recent experiences of using/supporting users of services in recent times. The aim of the survey is to identify the particular challenges that people are experiencing and to establish whether they might consider joining SWAN as a response to their dissatisfaction. It also aims to let both service users and practitioners know about SWAN, and so to try to establish a stronger support base.

We would really appreciate you taking the time (2 minutes) to fill in this survey and to share with others you think might like to complete it too.

Thanks!

The SWAN Ireland Steering Committee

Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KMVPTMP

Community Care Article Covers the Convoy.

Posted : by admin

Community Care journalist Rachel Shraer travelled with the convoy, organised by both Swan and Stand Up To Racism, to Calais on the 17th October 2015. Here you can read her report, highlighting the complexities of organising aid across borders, with no state assistance, and the desire amongst the social work profession to promote social justice. Alongside the donations, Swan and SUTR organised a rally that was held alongside refugees, to demonstrate our solidarity with those trapped in the Jungle, and have produced an International Swan petition alongside other social work agencies that demands social policy change. 

Events early November in Calais have taken an unpleasant turn, with police firing rubber bullets, masses of tear gas and pacifying grenades directly at refugees. The need to send messages of support and find ways to demonstrate solidarity is not going to disappear, and Swan remains committed to the cause of refugees and asylum seekers experiencing serious social injustice. 

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2015/11/11/lets-use-social-workers-hand-shoes-day-jungle-refugee-camp/

JUST PUBLISHED: “Frontline” – the Social Work Action Network Ireland Bulletin

Posted : by admin

 

The Social Work Action Network Ireland bulletin, “Frontline” has just been published. Issue 1, December 2015 can be found by clicking on the link below. Please read it and share far and wide. We would love to hear your thoughts about the articles you read and would also love to receive submissions future editions!

Our email is: socialworkactionnetworkireland “at” gmail “dot” com

 

Thanks, from the Frontline Editorial Collective (FEC)

Link to “Frontline”, Issue 1, December 2015: https://socialworkactionnetworkireland.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/frontline-issue-1-december-2015.pdf

 

 

A Service User’s Perspective: Morning Lane Associates, Social Work and Barriers to Public Debate

Posted : by admin

Swan raised significant concerns with Morning Lane Associates back in April/May, namely the connections between Chief Social Worker for Children and Families (England) Isabelle Trowler, MLA and the allocation of contracts worth millions of pounds of public money. 

Morning Lane Associates, Social Work and Barriers to Public Debate

Some weeks back Steve Goodman co-founder and director of controversial Morning Lane Associates criticised me personally on twitter for raising my concerns that unproven government restructuring of social work might one day be linked with a child protection tragedy.

I hadn’t as he suggested singled out Frontline for criticism. Instead I said I’d be delighted to take part (alongside others) with him and Morning Lane Associates in a public debate to explore the consequences of the new matrix of developments linked with Morning Lane for social work and social work education. 

I asked him if he’d be up for such a debate. I was pleased to see he seemed to be saying yes, asking me how I’d like to proceed. I raised the issue of resources (which I don’t have, but clearly Morning Lane do) and although there was an edge – him saying in an email to me – ‘I don’t play games – not with adults anyway’ (the last thing on my mind and where did that come from?), he mentioned that ML have a room where the debate could take place – for up to 60 people – which seemed really encouraging.

But this is where things seemed to get difficult. As a service user, coming from a user led organization, resources and the difficulty raising them is always at the front of my mind. So I raised with Steve issues I was familiar with organising events which equally include service users/carers and people unwaged or on low income – which of course are that this creates costs – to get there, maybe for support etc. I asked him if he could provide refreshments?

Is your training room fully accessible? what about contributors/speakers and their expenses?? These are the kind of resources that I am thinking of, I said

Steve though said he was thinking of having a debate ‘within’ the profession and maybe involving service users could come after.

You won’t be surprised that my view of this was that:

a debate about the profession can hardly leave out service users especially as a key achievement of social work education (and requirement) has been to include them in every stage and every aspect of learning. That’s why I’ve raised the resource issue. Helpful to get this clear at this stage rather than taking time meeting.

And that sadly so far is pretty much the end of the story. Steve replied that he respected my work on including users of services but that what he had in mind, he didn’t think should include service users and added that this was a pity as he felt a debate would have been of interest to many.

So there you go, that’s it, as far as this force in progressive social work is concerned. So much for ‘public debate’.

We don’t include or involve service users in discussions; we don’t make such discussions accessible to service users. And when the issue of supporting a public debate about the role of organisations like Morning Lane in the new government proposed arrangements for social work, gets serious, ‘the public’ apparently doesn’t include people as service users, or carers . Now that’s a nice way of saying you want to encourage public debate about the radical restructuring of social work, while making it pretty difficult for that ever to happen.

But we are talking about public money here. Are discussions behind closed doors increasingly overlaid with the rhetoric of ‘commercial confidentiality’ really a helpful way forward? Is this really the road to safe social work that truly improves the protection of children and young people and the safeguarding of adults? I’ll leave that one to you, but coming in the wake of the appalling cock-ups government proponents of these new arrangements for social work and social work education are coming to be seen to have made over Kids Company and its funding and operation, it seems to me there are some big concerns out here.

2015-11-09