I have recently come across a case where a kind and wise social worker may be subject to disciplinary proceedings because he temporarily took in the dog of a care experienced young person (he used to be her social worker, but she is now no longer supported by social services) whilst she was in temporary accommodation, where dogs were not allowed. The dog meant the world to this young person, and he did it to save the dog being taken away. Where is the justice in that?

If you cannot empathise with an abusing parent it is very unlikely that you will get to the bottom of why they do so, or help them to change.Donald Forrester has done some interesting research in this area. From my experience of working with people over many years I do believe that most people are more hurt than hurtful.

Thanks Katy – if you e-mail me, I will send some information. There is a guy in Scotland called Phil Coady who has been doing similar work. I am hoping to talk with him this week. Regards, Nick

Well said, I would be interested to find out more about your work

What have you got to hide by concealing the names of those whose practise has been found to be wanting?

I fully expect this comment will not be published, in which case I will be sharing my concerns more widely.

‘The reality of work in the social care sector is that boundaries will get crossed at various points for a variety of reasons, whether it is simple human error, tiredness, stress, manipulation by clients, difficult situations, bad luck or just a bad day at the office’.

This sentence completely rules out the idea that professional boundaries can be crossed for good reasons as well as bed ones – I can point to academic papers that illustrate this as well as Barry Schwartz’s lovely work on practical wisdom.

I would be happy to share further information on our work and the work of other erudite and wise people who have explored this subject in more depth.

If you start empathising with an abusive parent that is very bad. If you are working with a lonely older person at the end of their life then perhaps you could be a little less rigorous about personal boundaries.
Perhaps you could adapt your social work to the prevailing situation using professional judgement.!!
I think that my hero Bob Holman probably crossed a few boundaries by actually living amongst the people he cared for. HCPC would probably have suspended him or worse.

I made the mistake of working with a client of whose family I had known from my school years; it did not end happily. Initially, past history were interred and I made the fatal mistake of disclosing information about myself that impacted on the client and their extended family. It was a painful lesson in how to be a friendly social worker as opposed to a befriending social worker. It’s ok to talk about shared interest, when establishing boundaries but these are geared around the interests that the client raises and are not about our life history. Basically, working with homo sapiens isn’t easy and you have to be alert to how our actions affect our clients and vice versa.

Said best friend of my manager, also held court appointed deputy over health and welfare. My managers views also differed from her friends wishes – and clients wishes when able to express these. This was in terms of future care needs, and how these could be met.

The carer herself – and family, were able to recognise and state the potential conflict of interest.

Importantly – and simplistically, the deputy didn’t want her best friend managing her husbands care – is that an unreasonable request?

Needless to say the CQC, HCPC, OPG, NMC did nothing – risks not high enough?. Senior management stated they didn’t even see a potential (actual) conflict – funny if it wan’t so scary.

What about simple social work/ health professional values, like the client being the focus, confidentiality, respect, trust, dignity, choice, and minimising any potential/actual power imbalance?

In my view the above was a breach of everything I believed in, and left me – as a very experienced practitioner, considering whether social work is now for me?

I question whether clients – or workers, are adequately protected by their professional bodies, managers, or those agencies meant to protect vulnerable adults and children. #worstpracticeever