“All children are important. Though there are some you work with that get stuck under your heart and you always wonder how they’re doing.”
It is this dedication to vulnerable children in Cafcass family court adviser Joy Manley’s practice that impressed judges at the recent Social Worker of the Year Awards. Her focus on reaching child-centred outcomes, paired with her dedication to supporting learning and development in the profession, earned Manley the accolade of children’s social worker of the year.
The win was unexpected for Manley, who remains modest and turns attention to the countless others doing a good job in social work. “We’re all working hard in difficult circumstances. What was really great for me about the ceremony, and so uplifting, was meeting others and hearing their stories. Hearing about people valuing the children and adults we work with. And hearing about good practice, in what is a challenging climate at the moment. It’s nice to be recognised but the reward is in the work itself.”
Qualifying in 1979, Manley’s career in social work spans 36 years, a number of which were spent as an independent social worker, undertaking a range of child and family assessments, and as a self-employed children’s guardian in public law (care) cases. It was the desire to effect positive change from within Cafcass that drew her to the organisation in 2009, where she again took up post as children’s guardian in the West Midlands.
“It’s been really challenging and interesting to see the growth of the organisation, and great to be part of that change.” She credits a stable leadership set for the turnaround. Though this also lies with practitioners who, like Manley, were instrumental in cultivating practice improvement on the ground across local teams.
“Cafcass deservedly won social work employer of the year. As an organisation we’ve worked hard to raise our practice and have been careful not to become complacent. There’s healthy challenge and strong focus on development. The health and wellbeing pilot has helped too – you feel valued.”
Improvement is the golden thread for Manley. Not willing to “coast along” she is known to challenge her own practice, that of others and the usual course of a case if she believes it will result in the best outcomes for children.
Acting as a mentor for less experienced practitioners, Manley encourages this level of self-scrutiny in her mentees. “It’s about enabling people to develop confidence in their abilities, encouraging reflective thinking and challenging any stereotypical views they might have of social work. Having a greater awareness of your own practice helps you to enhance it.”
Manley also has an active role in delivering training to students, the local authority and external agencies, and presenting at conferences to the wider sector.
Previous contributions have included training to court clerks and magistrates on the guardian’s role outside of the court arena – a “holistic overview” (run alongside Heidi Crampton, service manager and winner of last year’s team leader award). Manley also presented at the Voice of the Child Conference this summer on how to engage children more effectively in the family court process.
Most recently, Manley gave a presentation on special guardianship orders , as part of a joint development and training day for local independent reviewing officers and children’s guardians. “[Those] attending agreed that the day had helped them to gain a greater understanding of the respective roles and highlighted the importance of improving communication and finding more effective ways of working together to achieve better outcomes for children.”
Manley has had involvement in the cases of 233 children (and counting) during her time at Cafcass. “Here, the primary focus is on children: what does this specific child need in this specific situation, rather than being tied by what resources or options are available. You’re involved at a pivotal time in a child’s life and the decisions made have long term implications – it has to be the best possible for them.
“One thing I do know from working with children over the years is that in many cases they want to be at home, but they want you to sort out the problems there so that it’s safe. I recently worked with a family where the mother had alcohol issues and the eldest daughter, who was 10, had taken on the parenting of her younger siblings. She said to me, ‘It’s better when Mum doesn’t drink, we have fun – girly time.’
“Despite the mother’s difficulties the children had a strong attachment to her and each other. I felt she had made genuine changes to address the concerns, and so after a further assessment the children have now been returned to her under a care order. The independent reviewing officer updated me that six months in the improvements at home have held. So far, so good.”
No award can top the endorsement of the children Manley works with – in the words of one, “[Joy] has the perfect name for what she has brought us, and she helped make us a family”.
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