BASW Cymru report – December 2012

A very merry Christmas and happy new year to you all from BASW Cymru. We have a host of activities planned for the new year which will continue to support social workers and raise the profile of social work in Wales.
The work for the year ahead began in earnest on a Saturday in late November when a number of our committee members met up with Carol Davies, BASW Cymru development worker, to plan ahead and establish a series of sub groups for specific areas of development, outlined below. A big thank you to all who gave up a day of their time for the profession.

BASW Cymru Awards: This sub group will be chaired by Cath Taffurelli (BASW Cymru treasurer) and will look to build on the success of last year’s ceremony. We are working closely with COMPASS again who will advise us and promote the awards. We are looking at the possibilities of extending the number of categories and improving the nomination form and decision-making process. The ceremony will be held at the Senedd, Cardiff Bay on Tuesday 1 October 2013. Please start considering individuals (and possibly teams) who are worthy of national recognition. Remember, this not only recognises those individuals but positively reflects on their employers, not to mention the wider social work profession across Wales.

Conference: This sub group will be chaired by Ian Woolrich (previous BASW Cymru chair) and will take place in early summer 2013. Details of the conference are still being finalised but it will certainly have a child care focus and will be held in North Wales. This is particularly relevant given the ongoing inquiries into child abuse scandals in North Wales.

Membership: This sub group is being chaired by Carys Davies (Committee member) and has a very broad area of focus, including consideration of how to best recruit and retain members, as well as how to improve our roadshows and engage better with social work students.

World Social Work Day Celebration: This year we will be celebrating this event on 20 March 2013 at the Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay. We are currently finalising the programme which we expect to have both a Wales and an international focus. A flyer will be developed in time for next month’s PSW and will also be advertised on the website and through our e-bulletins. We will be holding the event in partnership with Cardiff University once again.

Supervision survey: A small group has been formed to further review and refine the supervision survey that was undertaken earlier this year. Some of you may have seen a recent report led by Bill McKitterick, which showed that the support offered by social worker supervision is sketchy at best, sometimes leaving practitioners in vulnerable situations.
What should you expect of supervision? Please see BASW’s Supervision Policy for more insight into the subject [visit www.basw.co.uk].

Independents Network
Following the successful creation of a Cardiff Independents Network, a similar initiative has been launched for North Wales and met at our Wrexham office on 29 November. This was very successful with 12 people attending. Both groups are supported by Gaye Sheridan (Wales development worker) and Tricia Gbinigie (UK business development officer). Please look out for further details on the BASW website. The next meeting of the Cardiff Network is on 16 January at our offices at Caspian Point, Cardiff Bay from 10am-12pm.