Facebook social worker defends herself

There`s a crackdown on free speech coming, and it is being pushed through as necessary to eradicate terrorism. Enhanced powers to trawl anybody`s internet data along with extremism-disruption orders will silence anybody with `extreme` views. These are two of the Home Secretary`s proposals. If they come to pass, there is a risk that any critical remark against the establishment may be called `hate crime`. There is no doubt that we would be on a slippery slope.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-week/leading-article/9330962/think-again-mrs-may/

So it was very disappointing to read Siobhan Condon`s remarks in Community Care regarding the criticisms she received from respondents to the Daily Mail article, most of whom, berated her for gloating on Facebook about the part she played in breaking up a family. According to Ms Condon the Daily Mail readers displayed `absolute hatred for social workers.`

On the contrary, the comments were mostly critical of Ms Condon but that is because the public want social workers to do a good job because when they fail, it is children who suffer. That should be understood. We do not know anything about the family, except there were notes going back eight years. Whatever difficulties the children had faced, a split with their family was going to be another upheaval, perhaps necessary - we do not know -  but hardly anything to celebrate on Facebook whilst making their identities available to the public.

It would have been better if Ms Condon had heeded her  friends and quietly slipped away. Then we might have accepted that she regretted her behaviour. As it is, in defending herself she has implied that criticism is `hatred`.  We are probably going to see a lot more of that in the mainstream as they nudge us in the appropriate direction to shut us up completely. It is a disservice to social workers in general that Ms Condon has used that line of defence, as for her grand vision:

"We’re at this point in time where there needs to be a social work revolution. Social work is an excellent career to be in, we get to change people’s lives. We get to change children’s lives, families lives. And that’s really powerful."

Let`s hope the revolution Ms Condon has in mind does not increase Social Work powers any further - we know where that goes - and it is bad enough as it is.

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2014/10/14/social-worker-sanctioned-facebook-posts-reflects-feeling-abandoned-amidst-media-storm/?cmpid=NLC%7CSCSC%7CSCNEW-2014-1015


See also http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/can-social-workers-be-trusted-with.html