Even the most dedicated and upbeat of social workers must feel frustrated at times by the attention given to negative stories involving social work. So often it’s the problems that get top billing, not the individuals working hard to resolve them.
The Social Worker of the Year Awards, taking place in London this Friday 27 November, are an antidote to that – recognition that the great and the good of the profession are more numerous than the bad news stories in which they sometimes feature.
The awards are designed to reflect and celebrate the best of the whole profession: not just children, adult and family social work, but also the educators, employers and council support teams involved in the provision of social care services.
Among the judges this year are Lyn Romeo, our Chief Social Worker for Adults, and her opposite number at the Department of Education, Isabelle Trowler, the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families.
Lyn will be blogging about her recollections of the awards night. Meanwhile, here on the Social Care News site we hope to share case studies and experiences of some of the award winners from the adult social work categories.
The positive, transformative power of social work in people’s lives must not be overlooked or overshadowed by negativity. These awards take place on one night, but there are great people delivering fantastic social work every day – here’s to them and to the thousands of individuals and families receiving their support throughout the country, throughout the year.