The lesson from the Oxford abuse case is (again) about social work relationships

Taken from http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/childrens-services-blog/2013/05/the-lesson-from-the-oxford-abuse-case-is-again-about-social-work-relationships/#.V2GrqDV7yFo

By Camilla Pemberton, journalist, on 15 May , 2013 in Uncategorised

 
Ray Jones recalls efforts to tackle sexual exploitation when he was a deputy director of children’s services some 20 years ago – and asks what we might learn from the shocking cases then, and now

Yet again social workers find themselves in the frame fronting up criticism within an horrific child abuse story. Very quickly the police are moved to the margins of the story while social workers take centre stage. No chief police constable appeared on Newsnight last night, just Oxfordshire county council’s chief executive.

The issues that have emerged in Rochdale, Derby and Oxford, and which are under active investigation and prosecution elsewhere, are not new, however.

‘The task was to build up information’

In the early 1990s I was a deputy director of social services. Alerted by the local social workers and their managers, I found myself meeting the social workers, children’s homes managers, and police officers in a room with walls covered with flip chart paper.

The task was to build up information – car numbers; descriptions of the men; timings; which girls were being approached and then disappearing – and to create an understanding of the activities of the taxi drivers who were parking up outside the children’s homes.

This was over 20 years ago. There were no prosecutions but the men were tracked and interviewed by the police. Some girls were moved. The parking up outside of the children’s homes stopped. As far as was known, the men seemed to have been deterred. Maybe this was so, maybe not. But the trail ended.

What might we learn from then and from now? 

Firstly, the importance again of relationships. The girls needed someone who they knew and trusted, who was there for them, listened to them and stayed over time. Bizarrely, this is just what the abusive men initially provided for the girls in Oxford. It is what we ought to enable and promote for their relationship with social workers.

Instead we create complex organisational arrangements with disruptive hand-overs required as cases are moved between initial assessment, children in need, child protection, looked after and leaving care teams. No social worker builds up the history and story and not surprisingly the young person stops trusting.

Secondly, intelligence. This is not about IQ. It is about information and knowledge built up over time. This is helped if there is continuity of workers who are embedded within the local communities where they work, and where they trust each other across agency boundaries. The co-location and joint team developments of social workers, police officers and community health workers should be helpful, as should the greater attention being given to children who go missing.

‘Passing information on to another agency does not absolve your responsibility’

Thirdly, once you know something you know it! Passing information on to another agency does not absolve your responsibility. Too often information goes around the circle of agencies and workers but it loses ownership and no one takes responsibility. It takes doggedness and determination to follow through and chase up to make sure that action follows from knowledge. Be dogged and determined.
The churn and change promoted by the government in schools, policing and health services is not helpful either. It is leading to fragmentation and disruption. Commercialisation and competition are emphasised rather than cooperation and collaboration.

But what we know from Oxford and elsewhere is that it is local agencies working well together, and workers fired up to follow through on issues, that gets results. That’s what was ultimately achieved in Oxford. There will have been lots of learning there. The learning is relevant for us all.

Ray Jones is professor of social work at Kingston University and a former director of social services in Wiltshire