III PLANTEAMIENTO OPERACIONAL

Because the SAF is detailed and prescriptive, it increases the visibility of the criteria upon which Social Work judgements are based, thereby rendering the process available for scrutiny and evaluation. To use Garfinkel’s categories of records: the SAF is designed as both archival and contractual (Garfinkel 1967). It is ‘archival’, in that it is designed as a repository for information about cases, about assessment and recommendations and activity, which can act as a record of work done by Social Workers on a case. It is also ‘contractual’ in the sense that it is

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evidence that work has been done and which can be used to demonstrate the competency of the handling of a particular case in the event of a challenge.

Record-keeping is an important dimension of the service, and not only through the SAF. The records of a case have an important archival function, something which has a material effect on a workers understanding and assessment of a case, in the event of a case either being passed on to a different Social Worker, or as often arises, when an old case is relevant to a new case. Often, the parents of a child subject to Social Work intervention have themselves been the subject of Social Work involvement in the past. Record-keeping also has an important role in documenting work done, for the purposes of audit and evidence, should the management of a case be called into question. Perhaps more importantly from the perspective of Social Workers, there is a responsibility to keep adequate records of a case, in the event of the children involved in the case seeking access to their case files in future.

Inscription is contractual in its use as a strategy to increase the legitimacy of Social Work decisions. As well as using the SAF to improve record-keeping, and to manage aspects of practice, the aim of the SAF is to render practice visible. Work can only be scrutinised if it is visible. Social Work has been described as the ‘invisible trade’ (Pithouse 1998). Many Social Work activities are carried out on a one-to-one basis with families, or through the individual, tacit processes of assessment. The translation of work activity into inscription is one way of providing a window on Social Work practice. The SAF is introduced explicitly with the aim of facilitating greater scrutiny, transparency and accountability in Social Work assessment. This is as much about protecting workers as improving public accountability, by being able to support Social Worker decisions with explicit evidence and demonstrate work done and compliance with procedures.

Whatever the limitations of the implementation of the SAF, and the discontent with the design of the form, it is welcomed in principle by Practice Team staff who hope that this kind of standardisation will protect workers. There is a culture of insecurity amongst the profession, a feeling of vulnerability to criticism and

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censure. There are explicit references to scare stories, of workers who had been the victim of, as it is perceived amongst practitioners, unreasonable criticisms about their work, when things went wrong. There is some sense of ‘back-covering’ in this view of documentation; if they could be seen to have gone through the motions, no one could criticise them or label them as negligent.

Of far more significance for these workers is the awareness of and anxiety about being able to justify decisions and actions, should ‘something go wrong’. In other words, in the case of a child protection failure, such as the incident that had occurred within the department in 2001. Of most concern for Social Workers is the anxiety that a child might die or be injured, and that the Social Worker assigned to the case would be held legally accountable. There is a definite sense that, in the event of any legal proceedings or official inquiries, any shortcomings in record- keeping would be as much grounds for censure as any fault in decision-making. This need to ‘back-cover’, to protect oneself, to have the evidence (i.e. written evidence) to justify oneself is a constant theme in the discussion of record keeping. This anxiety is clearly exacerbated by the recent experience of the Child Protection Failure, but there are numerous other stories told by Social Workers of either their own experiences or experiences of colleagues who had suffered the stress and consequences of such a legal process. Social Workers are very aware that their judgements and work activities on cases might be challenged in court, or be subject to a public enquiry. They are very aware of the importance of having a paper trail of evidence for their decisions.

“But it’s also the climate, you know, of child protection, covering your back, damned if you do, damned if you don’t culture, when the only thing you ever hear about Social Workers is negative. If you hand in a standard assessment report, that’s going to back you up if you end up in court. It’s a tool to back you up. It’s something that back’s you up, you know ‘I use the standard assessment, and that’s what the department requires us to use and it means that everything’s covered’.” (PT1/SW2)

“I am in an unfortunate position because 3 ½ years ago, a child that I worked with died. She killed herself by falling out of a) building. So I’ve been through the process. I know exactly what it’s like. [ ………….] And of course there is a report done and everything. And my manager is, make sure all your files are up to date, which they are. But that doubly makes me more aware of the importance of having good case records. [………….]So I

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will make sure I self protect. Maybe more than most people do……. You have to be able to back up everything. Every action you take. You need to back it up, and you need to write it down the reasons why you take a certain action. Of course you do.” (PT2/SW1)

“I think the most important thing for me is making sure my detailed records are up to date, and making sure things are written down. Like, if I’ve made a decision, I need to write in that I’ve run it past my senior as well. Say if something goes terribly wrong and I’ve not actually written down that say, I’ve phoned the health visitor or whatever, then it will land on me.” (PT4/SW2)

A further factor in the expansion of inscribing practices in Social Work is based upon concerns about the possible degree of accountability Social Workers will have in the event of problems with cases, whether child protection failures and the associated public enquiries, or other circumstances which result in legal challenges to decisions made on case. These latter may be, for example, instances in which parents whose children have been accommodated or registered on the CP register mount legal challenges to appeal against decisions made through the CP process or Children’s Reporter system. At all levels in the service, practitioners talk about the awareness in the profession of being vulnerable to this kind of challenge and that inscription of case work is required as evidence with which to defend the actions and decisions taken by Social Workers. This is certainly a strong theme in the attitudes of Senior Managers and PTMs.

PTMs and Senior Social Workers see the anxiety about being held to account for poor record-keeping as one of the main sources of stress amongst front-line workers, particularly when combined with the workload pressures caused by caseload levels and recruitment and retention problems. On Senior described how this fear is affecting Social Workers:

“There is one of my supervisees, she had a nervous breakdown a few years ago. She questions absolutely everything. She is so concerned to get every procedure right. She’s a good Social Worker, very committed to the client, but this anxiety about procedures creates a lot more work. And it even causes problems with colleagues and other agencies, because she is always questioning whether they’re doing things according to correct procedures. She wants to check everything, and gets into arguments with other people because she’s checking everything all the time. This is a case where procedure has overruled everything else. They have to make choices about what gets done because they have so much work to do. They are so anxious

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about leaving anything undone, because it might catch up with them. They have to do lots of overtime to keep up.” (PT2/SNR)

“Social Workers are dreadfully overworked and this is compounded by the problems with turnover and recruitment difficulties. Social Workers have a choice. Do the unpaid overtime necessary to keep up to date with paperwork, procedures, documentation etc and feel more secure, but risk burnout, or, make judgements and leave things undone but thereby taking the risk that things might come back to haunt them. Sometimes, after running it by me, my workers will leave thing undone because they don’t have time. Social Workers would have to say – it’s 5pm, I’m clocking off because this is what I am paid for, and leave work undone. [………..] They are overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of different forms and procedures. Which is why it’s worrying in terms of introducing the Family assessment model, to persuade people it’s not just another fucking form.”

(PT4/SNR)

The concern about accountability and the possibility of legal accusations of negligence is highlighting the issue of inscription. Documentation creates a paper- trail, providing evidence for the work done by Social Workers on a case and the criteria on which they have based their judgements. Whether the awareness of the importance of good record-keeping as a protective measure translates into good record-keeping in practice is another matter.

Because the SAF is designed to demand detailed description by Social Workers of the criteria they are using in their assessment of a case, it is designed to generate better standards of record-keeping and thereby ensure greater visibility for the content and process of a Social Worker’s assessment. This is an attempt to change the culture of Social Work and create a culture of greater emphasis on the work of documenting cases as part of everyday Social Worker practice. From the perspective of the senior managers responsible for the design and introduction of the SAF, increased visibility of work activity is a means not of scrutinised or criticising their front-line Social Workers, but of supporting them and ensuring that they can defend themselves in the event of a challenge to their work.

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