Well said Carol.

The overwhelming majority of children open to social workers are open because their parents are attempting to raise children in conditions of adversity, and having the difficulties those conditions create located in them. We often do good work, even when “blaming” parents, but need to reckon with the fact that this is our M.O.

Is vetting opinions for whether they conform to the prevailing orthodoxy and don’t upset the power wielders the definition of valuing diversity and difference now?

Not all cases will be referred to the local authorities (LAs) by families, maybe due to ignorance of what LAs responsibilities are by families, so they muddle through, which in turn could mean more greater problems later on. Here the families could be blamed and in some instances other services such as GPs, etc.

In some instances it will be the LAs at fault, but not all families take up complaints with LAs, either by ignorance, historical poor experiences, fearing a loss of service if they do, and others. This again could be greater problems later.

When complaints are made and they are not upheld by the LAs, some families will be reluctant to refer to the, Ombudsman or may be too late to do so when the LAs have taken too long to deal with the complaints, especially if appeals are made. There is a requirement that an Ombudsman referral needs to be made within 1 year of the problem being known.

Being all said above, can LAs always be blamed, even when they are at fault, for LAs have limited resources, which year by year are reducing due to increased demand on these resources, but in many instances due to lack of Government finance. We are all aware that for 10 years this and previous Tory Governments have been reducing the grants to LAs, originally through austerity cuts, then increased costs due to COVID, but now they are still not being sufficiently financed,

Social Care has been in decline both on quality and quantity for too many years due to funding, but now the staffing resources are also causing many problems. There has always been a shortage, but due to many reasons including working conditions and pay, restrictions caused by the Immigration regulations, COVID vaccine requirements and many others.

Most are being caused by Government interventions or lack of, so I feel LAs are being put under circumstances which means failure is all by guaranteed.

How can all this be solved, well the Government needs to immediately reimburse all LAs for the fundings which have been withheld, relaxation of the Immigration regulations, these will go some way to solve some of the problems.

But in reality the perceived understanding, recognition and acceptance of Social Care needs to be greatly improved by this Government and the whole population of the UK.

We all have admiration for the NHS and Social Care should be seen as similar if not more so. Neither the NHS or Social Care can exist without the other and if all Social Care services could be greatly improved, this would relieve many of the pressures on the NHS.