When we get involved in the life of a child our priority is to make sure our social workers have the right support, time and resources to provide the quality of service we ourselves would wish to receive.
We spoke to two of our social workers – Jennie, who has been with us for a while, and newbie Clare.
Jennie Oatham:
“I’m just coming up to five years here. The crux of what I do is visiting young people, where they’re living whether with foster carers, parents, or in care homes, spending time with them."
“Helping disadvantaged children to give them the best is why I love my job; being on this journey with them."
“We’re a close-knit team. It’s more like a home than an office and when the children and young people come here for meals, showers and to do their washing it’s a nice environment to be in rather than something clinical."
“There’s good quality support from both my peers and managers. There’s a real commitment to developing staff and retaining good people. It’s nice to feel so valued.”
Clare McCammick-Copley
“I started here last September. I’d worked in various jobs but went back to college doing an access course and then university."
“I started in the children in care team where Jennie (above) works but now I’m in the long-term team in child protection."
“I love working directly with the children and their families. It’s grass roots social work – good old fashioned face to face. Youcannot go into a family’s life without first building a relationship with them, building trust."
“As a newly-qualified social worker, I get additional backing for the first year – my caseload amount is protected and I get support from a supervisor. The council is very flexible and my managers hugely supportive because I’ve a young family."
“Also, because I’m from Wokingham I’ve local knowledge which aids my work. This morning, I had to source a nursery for a child but knew which one locally would be ideal so didn’t have to waste time researching."
“The only problem with social work? We get an unfair reputation. People only ever hear about the very rare times when things go wrong – not all the countless success stories which go untold.”
For more information visit the Why Wokingham web page.
Interested in working for us? Send your CV to socialcarerecruitment@wokingham.gov.uk
