Re: Ofsted brands Bucks County Council’s children’s social care as ‘inadequate’: This report summarises many of the issues that have been raised by parents, social workers and myself for some time. It is hoped that the report will be a catalyst to change further support to vulnerable children and their parents in Buckinghamshire.
We need to hear loudly and clearly that children’s social care will be the number one priority in Bucks. That this will be top of the agenda at every county council meeting and that restrictions imposed in asking questions will be lifted on this subject.
New proposals need to be backed up by cash to ensure the following: Timely assistance for vulnerable children and their parents when required and consistency in ongoing support.
Parents need to be able to seek help from Bucks County Council for respite and additional support without being afraid of being labelled as ‘neglectful’. Parents with children with disability need additional support when they are exhausted.
All ongoing cases need allocated social workers and particularly children placed outside Buckinghamshire. Buckinghamshire children need to brought back into the County within a timescale of one year or they can become ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
Social workers need weighted caseload management, effective weekly supervision and the availability of ‘on the spot’ supervision. Teams of social workers need regular group support from permanent management not agency or locum.
The Munro Report said social workers should not be bogged down in bureaucracy and needed effective admin support for record keeping etc. This clearly has not happened.
Just obtaining a ‘Good’ rating now from Ofsted is not the point. Bucks parents, vulnerable children and social workers have been let down. The process of change needed to place children’s services as the genuinely top priority needs to be acknowledged by all county councillors. The cabinet member and leader need to stop blaming external factors as they need to create a culture change where vulnerable children and their parents come first, not just in strategy papers.
At the next full council, parents with disabled children will be present to hear whether or not children are now going to be put first. — Julia Wassell, East Wycombe Independent, Ryemead and Micklefield
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