30 October 2017
‘We recommend a new local authority department, providing a community based and family oriented service…it will enable the greatest possible number of individuals to act reciprocally, giving and receiving service for the well-being of the whole community.’ In 1968, the Seebohm report recognised the need for social care to be built around the communities in which children and their families live. It said that a social services department should be made-up of combined provision from other departments, across health and social care. It emphasised the financial benefits of this preventative way of working.
Our social care systems, in England and Wales, have been led by these good intentions ever since. But time and again, good intentions have been let down by systems which have been designed to ensure compliance and manage risk. This has resulted in services which have become distant from the people they seek to serve. 50 years on from the Seebohm report, how much do we allow these principles to underpin good social work?
- The full article can be accessed here
- The Journal of Children’s Services can be accessed here
- Follow Chris Wright on Twitter @wright_catch22