The Joys Of Being A Social Worker

Been a difficult week at work. I had what's probably THE most difficult meeting with a client on Wednesday and its basically pissed all over the rest of the week for me.

Not the client's fault at all. No. As is usually the case in these matters, this problem was caused by the client's family.

I should explain a little. As far as I can without breaching client confidentiality.

I have a client who has a learning disability and autism. They had lived with their mother all their life in the same house until she passed away at the end of last year.

Sadly this client has lost all their immediate family now. No brothers or sisters, parents are both gone, as are aunt and uncle who also used to care for them. All that remain of the family now are distant cousins - children of their father's relatives.

These relatives have not been near nor by in years. They know the client. They knew the circumstances in which the client and the mother were living. The client's mother was elderly and disabled herself, with a multitude of complex health problems.

So anyway - back to the point. A few years before she died, my clients mother took out a substantial loan against her house with the agreement that upon her death the house would be sold to recover the capital.

My client's mother was fiercely independent and refused any support or help from social services - despite our involvement in their care package throughout their life. She would not discuss plans for the client's future after her death - even in the last months before she died. She told me once "when I am gone I won't have to worry about 'X' any more. "X" won't be my problem. I won't be around. But while I am here I will do things the way I want to".

Now you might think that's fair enough, but what it has meant is that she has spent years telling my client that when she dies, social services will "put you away". My client, who is autistic and finds it hard to cope with change, now has to leave the home they have spent 95% of their life in. That would have been difficult enough without having been told they are going to be "put away".

On Wednesday was there was a big meeting to discuss plans for the future. My client was present as the meeting was primarily about them. On the agenda were issues around moving. The family quite happily sat there and discussed finances and time-frames in front of my client. Then I asked the key question. When does the house have to be sold by?

Sadly, it transpired that the family - who have been dealing with the loan company and solicitors around the sale of the house since the end of October last year - had NOT told my client that the house was going to be sold and they would have to leave.

No! Apparently they felt that was the role of the social worker!

Only they forgot to mention to me that they had not told them.

The rest of the meeting was taken up with me trying to calmly explain - in a way the client could understand - that the mother's actions in taking out such a huge loan meant that they now have to leave.

I don't know if I can explain how traumatic it was for my client to hear that or how distressed they became.

I don't know if I can explain how distressing it was for me to have that awful responsibility placed on my shoulders with no warning.

To top it all off, by the time I had got to the point where my client appeared to have a small understanding of what was going to happen, the family decided to pipe up and tell them not to worry about it or think about it and then promptly changed the subject for a few minutes and then left!

To me, that just goes to show how little understanding or respect they have for this person.

I left that meeting feeling completely drained and awful at having been the bearer of SUCH awful news. This client is devastated and although I know it is not my fault, I can't help but feel responsible as I am the one who has broken this to them.

Sometimes this job really sucks.