Episodes

The Government announced just before Christmas a review of Local Safeguarding Children Boards so I invited David Jones , National Chair of the Association of Independent LSCB Chairs, to be my guest. David is a registered social worker, qualifying in 1974. He was appointed in 2010 as the Independent Chair of Leicester Safeguarding Children and Adults Boards. His varied career and substantial experience have focused on social work and social services in general, children’s services and child prot...

My guest is Michael Hames who I’ve known for 20 years and whom I worked with on several initiatives and investigations starting when he was at Scotland Yard. He was born in Colchester, Essex and after education at the Colchester Royal Grammar School, joined the Metropolitan Police in 1962. He served for 32 years and held a variety of management positions at senior rank from 1970. During much of this time, he specialised in the detection of sex offenders. For the last 5 years of his service, he...

Lucy Faithfull Foundation believes that child sexual abuse is preventable and that we can have a society where children are free from sexual abuse and exploitation. Their purpose is to safeguard children and young people from sexual abuse by preventing it and responding to it. Their stated mission is to prevent abuse from happening by working in partnership with voluntary and statutory sector professionals as well as the general public. This week saw the launch of a major initiative by the Fou...

Hello again after the Summer! I thought I’d use this chance to reflect on a few of the significant events over the last month before we get back into the regular pattern of Podcasts. The worldwide refugee crisis—-More thoughts on abuse by priests—A Freedom of Information request by the BBC about the increase in numbers of abuse cases reported in schools and an interview I did about it—Finally, news that I’ve been appointed as Chair of a second Safeguarding Children Board–Bradford–and am really l...

Interview with Dr Simon Lenton MB, ChB, DRCOG, MRCP, MPH/DLSHTM, FRCPCH, MFPH He completed his medical training in Aberdeen in 1977 and was appointed as a Consultant Paediatrician in Community Child Health (CPCCH) in Bath in 1987 after training in New Zealand, Canada and the UK. Between 1996 and 2000 he completed Public Health training with a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from LSHTM and placements with the commissioning arm of Wiltshire Health Authority and a further placement Southwest Regio...

I talked to Alice Newton , the suicide prevention training co-ordinator for Papyrus, a national charity dedicated to supporting young people contemplating suicide and raising awareness about the level of need. They provide confidential help and advice to young people and anyone worried about a young person, help others to prevent young suicide by working with and training professionals as well as campaigning to influence national policy. The 2015 PAPYRUS conference will be held on 27th June 20...

This is another podcast from the highly successful BASPCAN Congress held at Edinburgh University. Professor Harry Ferguson on social work practice in families , how social workers engage with children and what the landscape of the profession is like today. Harry joined the university of Nottingham in November 2008 as Professor of Social Work. Prior to that he held posts at the University of the West of England, Bristol and in his native Ireland at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dubl...

Representing over 1 million social workers world wide, IFSW has NGO status at the UN and represents the different ways that the profession serves communities over all continents. Ruth Stark is the current President and talks to me in a wide ranging interview, touching on subjects that unite the family of social work as well as illustrating its diversity. After ‘trying out’ whether or not to be a Social Worker in the early 1970’s in Lichfield and Edinburgh, Ruth qualified as a Social Worker in B...

Following the general election I thought it interesting to hear about what’s happening in these two countries. Alan Baird. The Scottish Government’s Chief Social Work Adviser. Previously Director of Social Work, Dundee City Council for the previous 11 years and Past President of the Association of Directors of Social Work. In general, his role is to advise the Government on social work issues as they arise. To help him do this, he has a staff of nine civil servants and meets on a regular basi...

“Self Leadership in Social Work” , subtitled “reflections from practice”, a new book by Bill McKitterick that offers a fresh and innovative view on leadership for social workers and managers.It’s a call for confident, skilled and knowledgeable practice in social work. Published by Policy Press. Bill is a social worker now working in supervision and leadership. He has been a director of social services for ten years, including leading workforce development. He has worked in programmes to improve...

The formal debate on mandatory reporting took place at the BASPCAN Congress in Edinburgh where a packed theatre voted substantially against the proposal initially and , at the end, still voted against but with a much reduced majority. This debate, whoever wins the General Election, will continue to divide the professional community. Peter Garsden, the President of the UK Association of Child Abuse Lawyers has represented over 25 class actions of survivors of abuse and speaks for the introducti...

John Devaney MBE, Director of Social Work Education at Queens University , Belfast who Chaired the Congress gives his thoughts on the success of the event. John was 20 years a social work practitioner and joined the University in 2006. He is also National Chair of the British Association for the Study of Child Abuse and Neglect. Then, to follow, Sue Berelowitz, the Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England, talks about new initiatives and improved chances to hear the voice of the child in the...

The practice of child trafficking and modern slavery in the 21st century at the level that it exists is one of the most appalling and shameful indictments of the worldwide human condition. Bharti Patel is CEO of ECPAT UK. Bharti has more than fifteen years’ experience working to address human rights abuses around the world, leading high-profile research, campaigning and advocacy organisations in the UK and India. Bharti’s passion to challenge the root causes of child exploitation and abuse unde...

It certainly has been child protection week! With the Prime Minister announcing his ideas for professionals in child protection to be charged with ‘wilful neglect’– carrying a prison term of up to 5 years if they fail to report a child in danger. The fact that the Oxford cases that sparked this latest thinking specifically said that there was no evidence of wilful neglect and with all safeguarding training emphasising the necessity to share even the hint of concern with a colleague, it seems a w...

With the announcement of the new Chair of the Historic Abuse Inquiry this is a story that should be referred to that inquiry as I think it typical of the unfinished business that this country is awash with and the hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors out there still living with the legacy of what was done to them. Usually I give interviews to the media on child protection, cases, policy or other concerns but this time I thought I’d look at a current case. Pam Caulfield ( pictured ) is an inv...

This episode has a conversation about a non profit company working with young adults with a learning disability and a bit from me about the comments of Simon Bailey, Chief Constable with a leading role in combatting child sex abuse. He advocates that some “non-contact” paedophiles who just download child porn should be referred to the Health service rather than the criminal justice system. I disagree. But first………. George L Livingstone, Consultant is a qualified Social Worker and Manager, with o...

What’s the picture of social work in Scotland? After a monumentous year for the country, how is the profession shaping up in Scotland? Jane Devine is the Business Manager for Social Work Scotland, the successor organisation to the Association of Directors of Social Work. She talks of initiatives, political support, policy priorities and hopes for the future in a wide ranging interview. She also focusses on the specific work being convened regarding the image of social work and its crucial role...

An excellent interview with Julie Taylor who Chairs the Congress Committee for the BASPCAN Congress 2015 at the University of Edinburgh. BASPC AN stands for the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. You can find it at www.baspcan.org.uk . Its Facebook address is its full name and the Twitter handle for the Congress is #9ed2015. This prestigious event takes place every 3 years and is packed full of top speakers and excellent topics concerning child protectio...

Social work and Media Training. What is the image of social work in the media? How long will social workers be the targets for allowing children to be abused or the elderly to be dehumanised? Probably as long as we avoid looking too closely at ourselves and demand scapegoats. We do love to cultivate our blame culture. Given all this, how happy are social workers with the image of the profession portrayed by the media? My company commissioned a survey aimed at those in and close to social work t...

Tessa Munt serves as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills.Tessa was inspired to pursue a career in politics by her grandfather who took up politics in his adopted country, Kenya, serving as Minister for Finance & Development through the 1950s.Elected the MP for Wells Constituency in May 2010. A strong supporter of social work, Tessa talks of her commitment to protecting the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our communities...

JSWEConference Part 6. Thoughts of newly qualified workers and social media in social work education. A final roundup of interviews from the conference. Firstly an interesting discussion with three newly qualified social workers from the University of Dundee, Leanne , Nicola and Will. The next interview is with six authors launching their new book at the conference “Social Media in Social Work Education” and finally, Pauline Franklin- Senior Social Work Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church alon...

An interview with Guy Shennan, the recently elected Chair of the British Association of Social Workers. Then, a short interview I gave on the situation in Birmingham concerning stress in social work and its impact on morale and service delivery. Guy Shennan qualified as a social worker in 1989, having trained at the University of Sheffield. He worked in Derbyshire for nine years, mainly in children and families teams, before moving to Leicester to work for the Family Service Unit there in 1998....

Three more great interviews from this year’s JSWEConference. Such a rich vein of content. I hope you enjoy them. Today’s interviews include Juliet Koprowska , Senior Lecturer in Social Work at York University talking about exploring the use of self, revealed through examination of real social work encounters. Sam Baeza, from the University of Chichester whose session “swimming with sharks” examines what social workers experience when assessing families where sexual abuse is the primary factor....

RUTH SMITH is Editor and Content Director of Community Care, the multi-award winning information service for social workers. She is responsible for all content and digital products across Community Care, from the news website communitycare.co.uk to the paid for information service Community Care Inform Children and Inform Adults. Her expertise includes how to make information accessible to busy professionals when and where they need it. She’s also experienced at talking about social care to the...