Now, we feel like were under siege all the time. We cannot realistically do an effective job for all of the children for whom we are responsible. Inevitably some kind of priorities have to govern how we spend our time. Yet our management avoids this reality, placing this task on the front-line workers by default and failing to support them if something goes wrong. I am equally likely to be accused of neglect if I miss a report deadline or miss an appointment with a child.
Management responds to problems by giving social workers additional paperwork.
Investigations social workers feel like theyre between a rock and a hard place, receiving criticism both for not removing kids quickly enough and for too quickly removing them. Our administration has been slow to invest in even basic resources to improve our efficiency or to improve the safety of our jobs. For example, I have to spend up to 15 minutes going outside and across the courtyard to another office just to copy a piece of paper. We finally got a fax machine just this month. Recently, management installed locks on our doors, but only after several disruptive incidents and pressure from front-line workers.