Where others fear to tread
Author: The Guardian - Mar 11, 2009
Growing numbers of social workers are considering coming out of retirement. "There are a lot of people who are still passionate about the profession," says Susan Cranie, who runs sixtyplussocialworkers.com, a website that helps retired social workers to make the transition back to work. "People are not finished at the age of 60." Last week, the Local Government Association launched its first campaign to lure 5,000 newly retired social workers back to children's services. Council leaders are concerned that the fallout from the death of Baby P could exacerbate recruitment and retention problems, which could lead to a greater chance of child abuse cases being missed. According to the LGA, one in 10 child social worker posts is vacant at any one time. Two in three councils reported problems recruiting children's social workers - almost double the number with problems recruiting adult social workers - and 40% had problems retaining children's social workers. Councils are increasingly reliant on contractors, and around 5,500 children's social workers are agency staff.
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