Social workers ‘feeling burden of policies’

Some social workers feel inhibited in their work because they are overburdened by policies amid growing caseloads, according to research.

The study, conducted by Cork-based Olivia O’Connell, an implementation officer at Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, shows some social workers are afraid to use too much individual discretion for fear of making the wrong decision amid concerns of “policy overload”.

The study, Exploring the policy to practice gap: Social workers’ experience of embedding child protection policy into their practice, states: “From a social workers’ perspective, all of the findings suggest a ‘policy overload’ which can be an indicator of organisational crisis. This, in turn, has implications for both service providers and service users.”