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Changing Lives: Summary Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review

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Aspirations

Our aspiration is to make a real and lasting difference to the experience of those people who use social work services and their carers and everyone in the social service workforce.

People who use services should:

  • influence the design planning and delivery of services;
  • find it easy to contact services;
  • know what to expect from services;
  • have their strengths, interests and aspirations built on by services;
  • be active partners in finding and developing solutions;
  • be able to get the help they need when they need it;
  • regard social work services involvement as a positive option rather than a last resort;
  • have a consistent and reliable relationship with their worker; and
  • have someone to advocate on their behalf.

Carers should:

  • be recognised as active partners and care providers, able to influence how services are designed, planned and delivered;
  • be able to choose how much involvement they have in providing care; and
  • be able to have a wider life outside their caring role.

The general public should:

  • have confidence in the work of social work services;
  • understand how and when services may be able to help them;
  • be clear about how to access services;
  • have a realistic expectation of what services may be able to do to help them; and
  • value help and support from social work services.

Social service workers should:

  • be able to use their skills and knowledge effectively;
  • work to their full potential and be able to make sound decisions, supported and challenged by quality professional consultation;
  • use evidence based practice and continue to learn throughout their careers;
  • have a range of career options that allows progression in practice as well as in management;
  • work in supportive teams and feel empowered to find innovative and creative solutions to meet people's needs; and
  • have access to technology that helps them do their job effectively.

Employing organisations should:

  • trust their employees to practice safely and effectively;
  • support the development of the whole workforce;
  • promote and celebrate excellence, learning from good practice and from mistakes; and
  • resource employees to deliver first class services.

Partner professions and agencies should:

  • understand the distinctive contribution that social work services can make;
  • have effective joint service planning and design arrangements in place to make sure that best use is made of social work skills; and
  • respect and value the contribution that social workers make to achieving shared priorities.

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Page updated: Thursday, February 2, 2006