Essex County Council - Social Workers - How can you be so incompetent?

I have been wrestling with this blog all morning, should I write it, should I not?

Social Workers, I am sure, on the whole are good people, and like all good people they are not immune from making mistakes, we see it happening time after time, but sometimes those mistakes can be unforgivable.  And not just social workers either. I see the parole board have just ordered the release of Jon Venables one of the killers of Jamie Bulger who had previously been released on license and then re-arrested  for accessing, on line, I believe, pornographic images of children.  So, when he does it again, once again proving that it is impossible to rehabilitate some people, I hope those on the parole board who made that decision can live with themselves!

But, back to social workers.  In my day to day role as centre manager and responsible for a multi tenanted office block which also houses three care companies and various other tenants I and they get lots of post.  Usually, if the postman doesn't know who the letter is for he will bring it to me and I will send out an email to every one asking if it belongs to them, one tenant has about 150 or more staff in the building, so not every one is known by name!

On this occasion though, one letter addressed to two ladies, in the building and without a company name, was delivered to a tenant who opened it and inside was a letter from an Essex County Council Social Worker in the Children's Services Family Support and Protection Services with four pages of minutes about two young boys under social care!

Surely my building is not alone in housing companies that are in the field of social care and many of these companies are in multi tenanted offices, and surely local and county officials are aware of this fact! So, when writing to them, whether you are enclosing very private and confidential material and again whether it be on children or adults, why would you not ensure that it is correctly addressed to a NAMED PERSON in a NAMED COMPANY.  It is a simple thing to do and in particular to the horrible things that they must have to deal with a very necessary thing to do, surely.

I said at the beginning of this that we are all prone to mistakes, I am no exception to this, and clearly social workers can and do get it wrong , but the difference is when I make a mistake it is unlikely to have a devastating impact on other peoples lives, unless of course I do forget the lift serving the building should be continually serviced and checked for faults, or the water systems should be checked for legionnaires disease, but it is unlikely that I will forget to do these things and even if I did, tenants are always asking for a certificate for insurance purposes.

But, for a social worker to send out details of a case study in a wrongly addressed envelope, that is unforgivable.  I have informed Essex CC about this and tracked down the intended recipients but one can only hope that the care worker is more attentive to those under her care AND to the minutia of the admin work that accompanies her duties .....