UPDATE Rotherham: TCSW urges Labour vows to integrate multi-disciplinary response health and care services R otherham council is failing in its duty to protect vulnerable children from harm and is not fit for purpose, according to a report last month by Louise Casey, who carried out an inspection after mounting concern about child sexual exploitation in the town. In particular, the council had been unable to accept, understand and combat the issue of child sexual exploitation (CSE), resulting in a lack of support for victims and insufficient action against known perpetrators. Caseys inspection was ordered by the government after another report last year by Professor Alexis Jay, who found evidence that at least 1,400 children in Rotherham had been sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013. This is a stark report which highlights how badly children and young people were being failed in Rotherham, said Jo Cleary, chair of The College of Social Work (TCSW). It is clear that the lessons to be learned here are far-reaching and will have implications across professions. Cleary said that neither children nor staff had been listened to and that a fundamental change of culture was required to ensure that councils did their duty in protecting young people affected by CSE. An effective social care approach requires multidisciplinary working, where colleagues have a comprehensive understanding of each others skills and expertise, and take collective responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of children, she added. This means that youth workers, social workers, police, schools and health agencies are able to work together, and that information is both shared and acted upon. TCSW media release Annie Hudsons blog Backing for childrens voice to be heard in family courts TCSW has welcomed a government initiative to make it easier for children to communicate their views in court proceedings. Children involved in family cases, including when decisions are being made about whether to take them into care, will be able to make their views heard in future, according to justice minister Simon Hughes. Among the forms of communication open to children will be meetings, letters or pictures, or through a third party in addition to their guardian ad litem or social worker. Social workers play a powerful advocacy role in helping children to communicate their needs and wants. We hope these changes will help to make this job easier and lead to better outcomes for young people, both in the family court and in other care settings, said TCSW chief executive Annie Hudson. In a pre-election pitch for the future of the NHS and social care, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham promised full integration as the answer to some of the problems now confronting services. Setting out a 10-year plan for the NHS, he claimed that the pressures on hospitals A&E departments showed that the NHS was now in a dangerous place and that the collapse of social care was dragging down the NHS with it. Full integration of health and social care would be achieved by 2025, he said, but this would be driven at local level rather than imposed from above, accompanied by an additional 2.5 billion in funding and 36,000 extra staff. Services would be commissioned jointly by the NHS and local authorities through health and wellbeing boards. TCSW chief executive Annie Hudson said it was clear that the growing problems of health and social care could not be addressed separately. Whoever is in control of the NHS from May needs to recognise social work as an integral component of a truly joined-up health and social care system, she said. We know that social work is often the glue that holds integrated services together. With the skills and expertise to lead multidisciplinary teams and provide truly person-centred care, social workers play a key role in reducing delayed discharge, preventing emergency admissions, and supporting and empowering individuals particularly older people to live full, independent lives. Working closely with GPs, they can be the linchpins of successful integration. TCSW media release TCSW/RCGP Partners for Better Care report College queries demands on mandatory reporting of FGM Government plans to introduce a mandatory reporting duty on female genital mutilation have been questioned by TCSW. After a Home Office consultation, the government announced that the duty would be included in amendments to the Serious Crime Bill. It said that introducing the duty would be an important step forward in tackling FGM. We believe that doing so will make sure professionals have the confidence to confront FGM, and that it will also help increase the number of referrals to the police, supporting investigations and ultimately leading to further prosecutions. But TCSW chief executive Annie Hudson questioned whether mandatory reporting was the most effective approach. Mandatory child protection reporting in other countries, such as some Australian and American states, has led to services being swamped with unsubstantiated cases, she said. We must remember that social workers, and other professionals, are already required to act on instances of abuse where it is reported or suspected. It is far more sensible to better support social workers and other professionals who work with children and young people, to identify and respond to situations where children may be at risk of FGM. Consultation report "