On the social services front line

By Peter Wilson BBC Midlands Today home affairs correspondent

Noreen Sohal and Rachel Busby say they feel threatened

Rachel Busby and Noreen Sohal are senior social workers in Birmingham.

With three years' experience, Rachel handles some of the most serious cases - 23 in all - where children are at serious risk of sexual and physical abuse.

I sit in the back seat of her car as we drive around her patch - Aston, Newtown, Lozells. It's the gun and gang territory that I know well from numerous police stories.

But here I'm with two lone young women and Rachel said they feel exposed.

"We are threatened, we don't know what we're going to face," she said.

"The main focus of our investigation has to be the child and it's just not an easy investigation to complete when we know that our lives are probably in jeopardy as well... what we need is more staff, more support for ourselves."

We haven't got protection, we don't know what to expect. We've just got ourselves Social worker Noreen Sohal

As we drive to the first routine visit of the day, police vans and cars are parked up in the side roads.

Noreen said the police have their stab-proof vests and armed response team, whereas the social workers just have each other.

"We haven't got protection, we don't know what to expect. We've just got ourselves," she said.

"There's two of us and when we knock on the door it could be a gang member and all we have is our mobile phones."

Both women work from the Aston office and in the past weeks a double shooting and a stabbing have taken place in nearby streets.

The office is a dilapidated flat-roofed building that inside is a warren of narrow corridors and overheated, cramped offices.

'Make a change'

A senior manager admits to me that the place needs demolishing but this is the busiest social services office in Birmingham.

Last month it dealt with more than 600 cases, all involving children at risk.

Five out of nine team manager posts remain unfilled, testimony to the problems of managing a service in crisis.

Colin Tucker is the new director of children's social services and he does not pull his punches.

"I wish that the government would talk about social work, social work, social work in the same way they did about education, it would have made a similar difference," he said.

"I think now we've got to make a change, we can't go on like this.

"It's not acceptable that children are unsafe in this city and I think this city council recognises that and are doing something about it."

Up to 20% of social worker jobs in Birmingham remain unfilled.

The office in Aston is the busiest social services office in Birmingham

Take into account sickness and maternity and almost a third of the jobs are vacant. Birmingham needs social workers.

The city has more young people than the whole of the population of Newcastle - more than 250,000 children and teenagers.

The workloads have shot up in recent years, but the use of agency staff and other changes have meant that Rachel Busby's caseload has fallen.

You have to have a degree to be a social worker so there can be no quick fix to recruit people.

A three-year course and training on the job is needed, something which Selena Hewitt has just completed.

She admits that her friends and family think she is mad to be a social worker.

She said: "A lot of people do say 'Why would you want to be a social worker?' Basically for what they've seen in the media.

"They're worried about what we have to face daily."

Meanwhile, Rachel and Noreen are heading back out on the road.

Any referral could mean they come face-to-face with the harshest of cases which they will be expected to sort out and keep on top of.

A child's life could depend on the judgement and professionalism of these women.

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