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Frequent changes in social workers and managers are “negatively impacting” children in care, according to a new report by Jersey’s care watchdog.
The Jersey Care Commission outlined recruitment and retention issues in the Children's Social Care Service and Fostering Services in a new inspection report.
The inspection revealed that, while the service has made progress since previous assessments and is generally well-managed, “too many changes of workers and managers” is creating instability in the workforce and affecting the quality of support provided to children and foster families.
Pictured: “A high staff turnover within the adoption and Fostering Service has created instability.”
The Commission said: “A high staff turnover within the adoption and Fostering Service has created instability.
“The reliance on a high proportion of agency staff, who can leave at short notice, has placed the service at risk of unfinished assessments and inconsistent support for both prospective and existing foster carers and adopters.”
The report added that cultural issues are continuing to affect the service, and called for increased structural and organisational support.
The Commission explained: "The Government of Jersey is still struggling to respond to some of the longstanding cultural challenges that have impacted Children's Social Care for years.
“There remains a need to increase structural and organisational support to the directorate, particularly support in managing internal and external communications, Human Resources, workforce management, and financial skills and capacity."
Pictured: St Peter Constable Richard Vibert is the Minister for Children.
According to the report, social care services have launched an ongoing recruitment campaign to attract permanent supervising social workers to address these issues.
The inspection report was published just weeks after Children's Minister Richard Vibert acknowledged recruitment challenges within Jersey's social care and fostering services in a letter to Scrutiny.
At the time, he said: "We continue experiencing challenges with recruitment, particularly Social Worker roles and roles within Residential Services."
The Minister explained that the nature of social work makes recruitment difficult in Jersey, with is compounded by a competitive job market in the UK and social workers leaving the field on a national-scale.
Children's Social Care faces "significant" recruitment challenges
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