Making Research Count and the Social Work History Network
Brief notes of seminar held on 25.11.08, 1.30 – 4.00 pm, Henriette Raphael House, Guy’s campus, KCL
Reflections on Seebohm: What Lessons for Forty Years On?
Approximately 45 attendees
Main speakers:
Keith Bilton (SWHN) formerly General Secretary of the Association of Child Care Officers (ACCO) 1966 – 1970 and later Assistant General Secretary of BASW until 1973
Ray Jones, Professor of Social Work at the Universities of Kingston on Thames and St George’s London
James Blewett (MRC) introduced the second of a series of joint MRC/SWHN seminars. A key objective of the seminars is to ensure that social work history is accessible to policy makers and practitioners to give shape to and inform present and future developments.
Keith Bilton provided a personal account of the run up to Seebohm and in particular, reflected on the roles of the Standing Conference of Organisations of Social Workers (SCOSW), a coalition of eight social work associations and the Seebohm Implementation Action Group (SIAG). Under the banner of SIAG social workers and chief officers joined forces to campaign for the full implementation of the Seebohm recommendations. Although amendments sought by SIAG to promote wider social welfare duties were not passed, the lobbying process had been a unifying experience.
Ray Jones gave a comprehensive A-Z account from the Beveridge Report (1942) and official ending of the Poor Laws in 1948, to the personalisation agenda of the present day. Social work had undergone many changes since the introduction of the single Social Services Departments (SSDs) and generic social worker following Seebohm. By 1985, children’s and adults’ services within SSDs had started to separate. Twenty years on, children’s services have combined with education and adult services with local health partnership trusts. Financial constraints, business models and the introduction of care management have affected the social work role. The death of ‘Baby P’ has thrown social work in the media spotlight with more pressures ahead for those working at the frontline. The time was ripe for social workers and chief officers to unite and follow the example of the SIAG champions to reframe the discussion and debate.
Dr Barbara Prynn and Dr Joan Rapaport provided some themes and personal memories of the post-Seebohm era taken from preliminary findings of a small study of retired social workers’ working-life experiences (SCWRU/WISE, in progress). The transition from specialist to generic social worker had not been without problems. However, Seebohm provided opportunities for innovative practice. Examples of approaches introduced to help reduce the numbers of psychiatric admissions and to provide community support emerge from the recollections of frontline practitioners’ of the time. However, the quality of supervision may have started to wane at this point because supervisors were not specialist in all client areas.
Please Note
An article on this event is being prepared for submission to Professional Social Work.
The article on the joint MRC/SWHN children’s event (14th October) has been published in the December 08 issue of PSW. If anyone would like a copy of this would they please send an SAE to Joan Rapaport: Social Care Workforce Research Unit, 5th Floor Melbourne House, King’s College London, Strand campus, London WC2R 2LS.