The General Social Care Council (GSCC) has said that social work brings a distinct contribution to the support of children and families in its response to the Children’s Green Paper Every Child Matters today (1 December 2003).
Welcoming the green paper, the GSCC has said it shares the Government’s objective of ensuring that the needs, interests and welfare of children are better protected and advanced.
GSCC Chief Executive Lynne Berry said:
“Social work has been strengthened by the introduction of the codes of practice, accountability through registration and very high quality social work education and training. These changes will contribute to raising standards in social care and to increasing public confidence in social work. The GSCC is well equipped to deal with the challenges posed by the green paper, to build on these new foundations and contribute to improving the life chances of all children.”
The GSCC’s response emphasises that high quality education and training is the foundation for effective service delivery to children and their families. Training for social workers has long recognised the need for a multi-disciplinary and inter-agency framework. The first students are starting on the new social work degree, which will prepare social workers for practice across the range of social work services, including working with children and their families, with specialisation at post-qualifying level.
Clear standards through the GSCC’s codes of practice for both social care workers and employers, coupled with good quality education and training, provide an excellent basis for good quality decision making. The enforcement of the standards in the codes will help achieve the Government’s ambitions to raise standards of practice and to make listening to children’s voices integral to social care practice. Over time, registration will strengthen social workers’ accountability for high standards of practice.
Social workers are well placed from their training to play an extremely effective role in multi-disciplinary teams with colleagues in other professions and the voluntary sector and the GSCC welcomes the paper’s attention to workforce reform. One of the GSCC’s objectives is to increase the status and public confidence in social workers, including those working with children and families. The green paper will help to do this.
GSCC response to the Children's Green Paper