What is Social Care? Meet some real social care workers
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Meet some people who are Social Care workers and find out more about their work and backgrounds.
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Eileen Bond - Childcare Practitioner, Residential Children's Home"I work in a home with five children, mostly teenagers. On a normal weekday, we'll organise breakfast and get them off to school, then be there when they come back for the evening. It sounds straightforward, but many of these youngsters come from difficult backgrounds and may have been badly damaged. So you have to be sensitive to that. Being a teenager is difficult enough without some of the problems our young people have to deal with. "But I really enjoy the job. I put myself out for them. What's really important for the kids is to have someone who'll listen to them. ‘You're good; you understand us' they'll say. Young people are challenging and you have to set boundaries, but it's better to get results through patience and talk rather than being confrontational. "I work in partnership with other agencies: schools, health, the police and parents. At times, one or more of the children may be excluded from school so we do some education in the home. At weekends and in holidays, we arrange trips out that range from tenpin bowling to a walk in the countryside. Mostly we are just trying to look out for the welfare of the children as they move towards independence. Many stay in touch after they've left and go on to make a success of their lives. What you get from a job depends on what you put in, and I can put a lot into mine." Eileen came into care work after jobs in a factory and retailing. She worked first with older people and people with a learning disability. At the children's home, she works a shift pattern which involves some night and weekend shifts. During her career, Eileen has been on a number of courses and holds an NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care. |