A look back at 2022 with WillisPalmer's Head of Practice, Lucy Hopkins…
2022 saw people trying to get back to some degree of normality following the Covid-19 lockdowns, restrictions and school closures that we had faced for the previous two years. However, the impact of Covid-19 continued and many services experienced, and continue to experience, backlogs and difficulties, including those services relating to children and families.
Social worker [...]
Practice needs to urgently improve around allegations in foster care, warns charity
There is an urgent need to improve practice around allegation investigations in foster care, a fostering charity has warned.
The Fostering Network says the impact of poor support and lengthy procedures causes foster families high levels of stress, many consider leaving the workforce, and children and young people who need foster care suffer as a [...]
Stress levels high in social work before COVID-19 pandemic
Stress levels in social workers were already high before the outbreak of COVID-19, research has found.
A Department for Education commissioned longitudinal study tracking the careers of local authority child and family social workers in England over five years found that one-quarter social workers who reported they were not stressed by their job at Wave 1 [...]
Recruitment and retention of foster carers still biggest challenge in system
The children’s system will be jeopardised unless the government secures the future recruitment and retention of enough, high-quality foster carers, a report has warned.
While recruitment and retention of foster carers is not a new issue, it remains the biggest challenge in the fostering system, the report commissioned by the Department for Education found.
“In England, there [...]
