You and Us – IWGB – Foster Care Workers Union

The Foster Care Worker Union is run by and for its members. The pages in this section explain how it can help both individual carers, and the profession as a whole.

FaceBook Feeds

IWGB Foster Care Workers union

7 hours ago

Here is the email that was in members inboxes yesterday, I want to share it with everyone as it is important for all foster care workers, if anyone wants me to send them the email to forward to colleagues or print out please email me at sarahanderson@iwgb.co.uk.

Help us stamp out intimidation, bullying and victimisation

I was at a meeting in Birmingham yesterday (where I am very extcited to say we set a up yet another Regional Group) I asked everyone to come up with words for how they felt about their fostering work lives and here’s what they came up with:

Controlled, bullied, intimidated, isolated, ‘no voice’, made to feel ‘not good enough’, told “who do you think you are”, silenced, humiliated, victimised, blamed, powerless, useless, ‘not in control of our own working lives’ and more...

Some members have given us feedback that they feel there will be repercussions for saying they are in the union, some are afraid to go to meetings for fear of being seen, some are being told they can’t join, many are being intimidated.

Here are the facts:

You are entitled to join any independent support you like, including the IWGB whether your LA or IFA officially recognise the union is irrelevant, union recognition is only relevant for purposes of collective bargaining, and is nothing to do with you joining the independent support body or union of your choice.

NMS’s state that we have the right to independent support and advocacy, its a statutory framework so its a legal right and LA’s and IFA’s have no right whatsoever to impose restrictions on who that independent support can be, refusing this breaches the organisations legal obligations.

If anyone is telling you otherwise then this is not true and is for purposes of intimidation, bullying and victimisation, something that is absolutely against their own professional code of conduct and legal statutory framework and is a reportable offence.

How do we stamp this out?

We are working on some robust legal responses for those who continue to act with impunity, we also can do some of the following:

1.Send a warning shot to Directors of Children’s Services and Directors/CEO’s of IFA’s. They are often are unaware of what their front line SW’s and middle management are up to, they will not want the world knowing they run an organisation for children that actively promotes intimidation, bulling and victimisation, and actions that flagrantly go against their own statutory legislation and the law.

2. If they ignore us we could consider a judicial review. Amongst the grounds of a judicial review challenge are:

The public body uses a power it has for inproper use.
The procedure followed by the public body is unfair or biased.
The action taken is in breach of the human rights act.
The actions are in breach of European Community law.
The public body failed to comply with one of its legal duties.

3. We will report individuals to their own professional body, the HCPC, for gross misconduct.

4. We will mount multiple, evidenced reports to Ofsted.

We think number one will be enough as no one wants Judicial Reviews, numerous individuals in their organisation being investigated by their professional bodies for gross misconduct, or negative Ofsted reports.

Fear is subsiding, FCW’s across the UK are getting so much bolder, meetings are well attended, open meetings gather a lot of interest. The IWGB is growing at such a pace now, numbers are rising exponentially, we are driving a whole new fostering narrative and leading the way.

So we want you to help us stamp it out, if you have been intimidated into keeping quiet about the union contact us immediately, lets do this together.

Best wishes
Sarah
IWGB Chair, England and Wales

AT THE FOSTER CARE WORKERS UNION WE ARE COMMITTED TO DRIVING UP STANDARDS FOR FOSTER CARE WORKERS AND FOSTER CARE.

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter to recieve the latest news & updates on our campaigns both locally and nationally.

The IWGB APPG into Foster Care work is under way in Parliament, 19 cross party MP’s and Peers are signed up and already this is proving to be an very influential new fostering enquirey.
Next session in October 23rd, please email lydiahughes@iwgb.co.uk the Secretary of the APPG for information on an invitation, these sessions are always oversubscribed so get your invite request in early.

At the Union we want achieve Limb ‘b’ Worker status for foster care workers and a Central Licensing body, see our website fcwu.org.uk for more details.

Copyright © 2018 Foster Care Workers Union, All rights reserved.
The IWGB, the union for foster carers, is committed to working for Rights, Equality & Standards which is long overdue in the fostering industry. You can become a member online and receive news & updates weekly to your desktop www.fcwu.org.uk/onlinemembership.html

Our mailing address is:
Foster Care Workers Union
Branch of the IWGB
12-20 Baron Street
London N1 9LL

T: 0800 292 2290 Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm
E: press@fcwu.org.uk W: www.fcwu.org.uk

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

This email was sent to sarahjanderson@hotmail.co.uk
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
Foster Care Workers Union · 12-20 Baron Street · London, London N1 9LL · United Kingdom

Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp ... See MoreSee Less

IWGB – Foster Care Workers Union – Working for Rights, Equality and Standards

fcwu.org.uk

News Roundup August 2018 July 27, 2018July 27, 2018 by lydiahughesiwgb Well what an amazing few months, the thing that stands out for me is the incredible impact we are having on the fostering narrati...

View on Facebook

IWGB Foster Care Workers union

2 days ago

Birmingham here we come 💪🏻 and let’s stamp out intimidation 👊🏼👊🏼 ... See MoreSee Less

Video

View on Facebook

IWGB Foster Care Workers union added 3 new photos.

4 days ago

Inaugurated in Parliament 19/09/16, just 2yrs ago, so much achieved in such a short space of time 👊🏼

Happy Birthday IWGB Foster Care Workers 🎉🎉🎉 ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook

View on Facebook