Written by the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance
Understanding the experiences, needs and wishes of children and youth in care is critical if social service workers are to provide the support and services they most need. The Global Social Service Workforce Alliance is currently partnering with Martin James Foundation and Child Frontiers to learn from, and integrate, the perspectives of care-experienced children, youth and care givers into the training of social service workers in Uganda, India and Brazil.
In the first phase of this project, our national partner in Uganda, Child’s i Foundation, used interactive group exercises to help 133 young people and their care givers open up about their experiences of growing up in residential care, foster care and formalized kinship care. Through sharing their experiences, the young people and caregivers revealed invaluable insights into the kind of help social workers should provide as well as the ways it ideally should be provided.
How should social workers help?
When asked how social workers should support individuals such as themselves, the participants frequently mentioned the need for practical and material support, so they can find their own way in life and become financially independent, as well as the importance of help to access the right kind of education and training. However, emphasis was also placed on the need for emotional support and guidance, in particular at crisis points, to help them overcome the effects of adversity and to help them develop life skills.
These are some examples of the powerful messages shared on how social service workers can most make a difference:
- “When they offered to give my child back, I told them I didn’t have bedding for her, so they gave a mattress, blanket and others. When they asked what I needed, I said if they could give me a cow, I am old but I can take care of the cow, if it produces, I could get milk and sell it and breed more cows. Before long, I would have enough cows to leave behind for my children as a start for their lives.” -Elderly male kinship carer of a reintegrated child, Mpigi
- “I think [a] social worker should not visit empty handed, yes counselling is important but they should be able to give starting capital.” -Mother of a reintegrated child, Mpigi
- “…a lot of times when we have failed to clear the school fees, I talk to Uncle X [a social worker] and he helps us.” -Girl in a vulnerable family, Mpigi
- “While we are growing [up in residential care], we have routine, we wake up, we shower, we play, we eat, we shower, we sleep, but we do not learn anything. The life they give us is a rich life, a privileged life which is not forever. I think they should train us in real life experience. When you leave the orphanage, challenges there are many, they spoon feed us and when we leave we go back to zero.” -Young woman care leaver, Kampala
- “We spend a lot of time in orphanages with social workers, and even though we return to our families, we’re often more accustomed to them than to our own family. It’s important that they continue to provide counselling and support. Even if they can’t offer material assistance, ongoing counselling and follow-up are essential for helping us adjust and succeed.” -Young woman care leaver, Kampala
Qualities of an effective social worker?
When asked about the qualities of a good social worker, participants frequently mentioned that they should show kindness and empathy, be available and come to them, not be corrupt, be calm and polite, and offer words of encouragement and hope.
These are some examples of the powerful messages shared on what makes a good social worker:
- “This social worker should understand my pain and the difficulties I might be facing.” -Female caregiver from a vulnerable family, Kampala
- “A good social worker should make you her friend and bring you close and shows you love so that you can be able to open up.” -Female caregiver from a vulnerable family, Kampala
- “A good social worker gives me help without hoping to get anything in return.”-Male caregiver from vulnerable family, Kampala
- “Should use encouraging words…words like – ‘you’re stronger than you think’, ‘you’re capable’, and ‘I believe in you’ , you know something like that so that you also start to believe in yourself.” -Female care leaver, Kampala
- “Advising how you can make it – you can do more than you think.” -Female caregiver from a vulnerable family, Mpigi
These insights, among others gathered from the discussions, were consolidated into interactive training materials for social workers, to help them develop essential practices and ways of interacting with children and families that can best support them, and, in doing so, enable children to remain in or be successfully reintegrated to safe and lasting family care. The training materials developed feature quotes and video clips from the care-experienced participants, allowing social service workers to hear directly what services and professional behaviors are most valued by those they support and adjust their approaches if necessary.
These training tools were then tested among 23 social service practitioners, including 8 community volunteers in August, and then adjusted based on their feedback, to enable them to be integrated into the wider curriculum for social work training and education in as impactful a way as possible.
This same process is being implemented in India, with the help of our partner, Miracle Foundation India, and in Brazil, with the help of our partner Terra dos Homens (ABTH). The key messages from these consultations with care experienced individuals will also be used to develop advocacy materials, so that they can influence not only how the workforce is trained, but the way services are planned and policies developed. Stay tuned for more insights from these countries, as the project unfolds, as well as for the development of the advocacy materials.