If social workers are prepared to invest in Birmingham in terms of time and commitment then the council is willing to invest back, says history and English graduate Rina Begum, who is a children in care team manager. It was the council’s generous offer to fund her to complete her professional qualification – at a time when she was employed by a voluntary drugs service organisation in Birmingham – that persuaded her to join the authority seven years ago.
“There was no tie-in with my training – I didn’t have to go and work for them when I qualified. But I wanted to give something back. I did appreciate the investment they had made in me,” she recalls. And since then, things have very much gone on to open up for her.
So far, 37-year-old Begum’s career has included working in the front line for the leaving care team – supporting teenagers in their transition to independent living – being part of a children in care team and also working in child protection. “The type of cases that come up in Birmingham are wide ranging. It’s great experience in terms of complex case work. You can work with families with a range of issues as the city is so diverse – the experiences you get working with Asian families are different from the experiences you would have working with black or white families.”
Although Begum left Birmingham to work with another West Midlands authority, she returned after only six months away. “I thought it was important to gain experience with another authority, but I just felt that if I was to be a team manager I wanted to be one in Birmingham.”
Begum was also attracted back to her home city following the appointment of the council’s new director of children’s services, Alistair Gibbons.
“We have a new director who has a great vision and who believes in relationship-based practice. People shouldn’t be put off about coming here – there is a lot of good social work that goes on.”
Begum doesn’t see any reason to leave Birmingham in the foreseeable future: “I am on a reasonable salary, I am buying my own home and I am on a local authority pension scheme. It’s affordable and I have a good network here.”
