Calling all Social Workers

Well, don't work with children then!  LOL  I've had a parent offer to 'get rid of me'.  However, she did have a severe personality disorder, these are things that you run across when working with people's children sometimes. 

  omg are you serious?!?! yeah see your job is dangerous, it's like being a prosecuting attorney? Are they the ones? lol I can't think of the name...hopefully know what I'm on about. They put like say they put someone extreamly dangerous from a mob or something in prison ...and a few weeks later they are dead. 

anyway be safe.

not all social workers "take children away" (aka child protection). 

ohhhh ok

I have officially declared a major...Social Work!!! I'm going to a community college now, and I had to for my credits to properly transfer to UT, even though I have no clue when I'll actually be transfering. (since I'm most likely going back to the UK for at least a year in Aug.) I have a few questions for anyone who is already a social worker...

~What did you minor/double major in? What do you wish you had minored/double majored in?
~How hard was it to get a job in the UK with this major?
~Do you like your job? I know it's a hard, stressful job to have. But it really seems like the career for me. I've heard several good and bad things about being a social worker.

I would love to work with an international (or national) adoption agency someday.

Right now I'm considering a minor in Spanish. I've been learning Spanish and ASL. I don't really care so much about having a major/minor in either language...I just want to be fluent in both!

Thanks!!!! 

I have been in the UK employed as a Social Worker for the last year.  I work for a Local Authority in a long-term child care team....child protection work basically. 

My major for my bachelors degree was psychology, my masters degree was in Social Work.  I wish I had focused more on foreign languages, computer, and history classes.  As far as a minor, I don't think a minor really matters.
It is not hard at all to get a job as a Social Worker in the UK.  However, they may want experience if you do not attend s school or having internships in the UK. 
I like my job, but it is stressful.  It seems like it is acceptable within the culture to be hostile and critical towards social workers.  However, I think the area of social work I am in, child protection, has to be one of the more difficult areas to work in.  But, it is also one of the areas that is highly recruited.

HTH,

Don

I have officially declared a major...Social Work!!! I'm going to a community college now, and I had to for my credits to properly transfer to UT, even though I have no clue when I'll actually be transfering. (since I'm most likely going back to the UK for at least a year in Aug.) I have a few questions for anyone who is already a social worker...

~What did you minor/double major in? What do you wish you had minored/double majored in?
~How hard was it to get a job in the UK with this major?
~Do you like your job? I know it's a hard, stressful job to have. But it really seems like the career for me. I've heard several good and bad things about being a social worker.

I would love to work with an international (or national) adoption agency someday.

Right now I'm considering a minor in Spanish. I've been learning Spanish and ASL. I don't really care so much about having a major/minor in either language...I just want to be fluent in both!

Thanks!!!! 

whoo hoo!! congrats!!

Out of high school I KNEW I wanted to major in sign language (didn't know what I wanted to DO with it, but I was working with deaf kids so i figured there was something to do!) so I went to community college and majored in Sign Language and Deaf Studies. It was actually a friend who turned me onto social work about the time I started getting ready to transfer. I had been taking psych/counseling classes for my GE work and it all made sense.

Getting a job in the UK with this major was cake. I never even thought about working in the UK until a few months before I applied... again another twist of fate, a met a social worker in passing.  Check out the GSCC website and see what they look for in social workers. It is all spelled out.

I really like my job. I work with families with children with disabilities. It is frustrating to give them the resources they need because of budget cuts and waiting lists etc., but what else is new?

UT? University of Texas? If so TOTALLY major/minor in Spanish. I studied Spanish in HS and was pretty good (helped I lived in CA)  but once I started signing it went out the window. Now I have two Spanish neighbors and we just speak English... some days I can't even speak English but that's another story. 

Good luck pursuing the adoption field. I had a classmate who was passionate about that.

Feel free to pm me

Not Texas....university of Tennessee. We have a huge hispanic population here. I don't plan on staying in Knoxville for the rest of my life, but if I end up staying in America, I want to live in the the south-east and Spanish would be a very useful thing to have.

I have a degree in criminal justice from a US university, how much of a transition would it be to become a social worker/parole worker in the UK?

check out the thread 'calling all social workers'



I'm not sure about being a parole officer in the UK but you cannot become a Social Worker in the UK with a criminal justice degree.  The UK now requires that social workers get their degree verified by GSCC to make sure that they are qualified to become a Social Worker.  But Social Work Assistants do not have to have a Social Work degree so you might want to check that area out depending on how much experience you have. 

I have a degree in criminal justice from a US university, how much of a transition would it be to become a social worker/parole worker in the UK?

That's a good question, I'm working on a degree in criminial justice right now and was wondering if it will be useful if I end up in the UK in the future. 

That's a good question, I'm working on a degree in criminial justice right now and was wondering if it will be useful if I end up in the UK in the future. 

It may but not if you want the title of Social Worker.

Those of you interested in pursuing employment in "Social Care" should check out the GSCC website. It may give you some guidance on what social care jobs you are eligible to perform and what your official registration classification will be.

with a degree in criminal justice what wold be the best job in the UK for me? usig my degree, and past military experience? I am leaving the forces soon, and undecided what i want to be when i grow up. any ideas, i am open to advice.



Ben

Ben, you should talk to a recruiter and see what type of positions you would qualify for in the UK. Good luck!

Update: I finally received all of my paperwork (just in time since I leave Monday!). I had enclosed a letter to the NY consulate giving my temporary DC address and asked that they mail my passport, visa, work permit, et al to DC instead of NC. I also asked that they mail it to my aunt at her office AND THEY GOT IT ALL RIGHT! I was really sweating it out because if they had sent it to NC I would have been totally screwed! So, FINALLY, I am ready to go, all packed and re-packed, exchanged some cash so I'll get off the plane with a few quid and now can just relax for the next four days! 

Update: I finally received all of my paperwork (just in time since I leave Monday!). I had enclosed a letter to the NY consulate giving my temporary DC address and asked that they mail my passport, visa, work permit, et al to DC instead of NC. I also asked that they mail it to my aunt at her office AND THEY GOT IT ALL RIGHT! I was really sweating it out because if they had sent it to NC I would have been totally screwed! So, FINALLY, I am ready to go, all packed and re-packed, exchanged some cash so I'll get off the plane with a few quid and now can just relax for the next four days! 

Wow.  Congrats and have fun!

Is everyone here in London??? I am one of 8 Americans in Swindon.  I am from Chicago and have an MSW - practice has been very different from what I am used to, but maintain my ties to US research and practice methods.  I have yet to get through the entire thread - but am happy to see such an enthusiastic community of US social workers in the UK. 

Welcome and Good Luck!