(14) Reinforcing Powerlessness - CAIN - University of Ulster

her children had to be accommodated, at Social Services expense, in hotels. When eventhis broke down, the Executive finally relented – for the last time, they insisted – and thefamily were again rehoused. However, everyone knew that it was only a matter of timebefore the cycle was repeated, and apart from taking the children into care, which we didnot really want to do, no-one knew how to break it, least of all myself.But people in the community knew. She was invited to join a fledgling women’sdrama group, and, after some persuasion, hesitantly agreed. Within a very short time aremarkable transformation had occurred. She gained considerably in self-esteem, and –because the group held their meetings in one another’s houses – began to keep her homeclean and tidy, rather than let a mess pile up from which previously she would have runaway. The children gained too, for they realised that this time they might be staying putand so made a proper effort to find friends. Within a short time I was able to close thecase – the success owing nothing to social work!An undervalued resourceWhen I joined NSPCC it was undergoing a period of self-examination. Its centenary wasapproaching and it was attempting to redefine itself, especially in relation to its bigbrother, the Social Services. In such periods of questioning all options can seem equallyviable, and I was permitted to develop my own ‘community-orientated approach tosocial work’. I built up close links with numerous community groups in Belfast andNewtownabbey, operating an informal surgery for some of them at selected times eachweek. These groups benefited from being able to provide an on-site social worker as partof their community outreach, and the close working relationships I developed with someof the groups helped to dispel much of the antagonism with which social workers hadinvariably been viewed. On visits to the groups – if I wasn’t occupied with clients – Iwould often sit down with the community volunteers and explore how they themselvescould best tackle the numerous problems they encountered.I soon discovered ample evidence for what I had long believed – that each communitypossessed an untapped mine of strengths and abilities. Time and again I encounteredindividuals – from young people to senior citizens – whose commitment, energy,understanding, and ability to empathise often exceeded that possessed by many trainedsocial workers. All that these community volunteers required was a little guidance andsupport – yet all they too often received was avoidance and professional aloofness.In one estate a number of young women – all single-parents – had formed a group formutual support, and one day informed me that, because I had helped some of them withtheir problems, they in turn wanted to help some of the families I visited. I explained thatfor reasons of confidentiality the families on my caseload might not accept their assistance.However, I asked them, surely they already knew families with similar problems – whatwas to stop them offering assistance to those families?We then explored just what was stopping them, and it was obvious they were wary of“what we might find”, and anxious that they might not know how to handle it. Whatwould they do, for example, if someone admitted to harbouring fears of injuring theirchild, or displayed deep-seated emotions? At least by getting involved in my cases, theycould safely leave such problems to me. More earnest discussion followed, at the end of6