SHOW TRIALS FOR SOCIAL WORKERS
SOCIAL WORK IS NOT SOMETHING ONE enters into lightly. It requires commitment, intelligence, emotional strength and the zeal to do the right thing but also the humility to know that solutions will never be perfect. Social workers are the life support for the most vulnerable of our society, and are individually held to account for systemic failures when tragedy occurs. Free and open debate is therefore essential.
Towards the end of 2020, a number of social workers in the UK established the Evidence-Based Social Work Alliance (EBSWA) because of the widespread adoption of policies based on transgender beliefs without discussion or an evidence base.
EBSWA was concerned at the possible implications for safeguarding, and about the implications for social workers who do not support the adoption of policies such as unquestioning acceptance of self-identified gender and automatic “transitioning” of children of any age and with or without parental consent.
EBSWA wrote an open letter on 9 February to the chief executives of Social Work England (SWE) and the comparable care councils in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as the British Association of Social Workers, and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service requesting a policy review and practice guidance related to the “current policies and practices regarding
