I'm sorry, you've made the wrong decision.
Here are some points that you need to consider. You should have included all of these in your reflective activity.
- When you received the private message from Jenny, you decided to do nothing. However, this meant that there was not an opportunity to identify the risks to Jenny’s well-being. If you had taken action, you may have been able to help prevent harm to Jenny.
- Also, by doing nothing you could lead people to believe that you were aware that your relationship with Jenny was not appropriate and that you were trying to protect your own interests before supporting her. This could call into question your suitability to be a social service worker.
- Sending the private message means that rather than alerting services that could help Jenny, you are acting independently. This could place Jenny at greater risk of harm as she is not able to receive appropriate care and support. For example, her care manager could have arranged for Jenny to get advice and support about her diet and help to develop her cookery skills. By acting independently, you are also likely to call into question your reputation and professionalism, and possibly the reputation of your service and employer.
- Simply sending the message also demonstrates that you do not appear to understand your duty of care and your responsibilities to promote the support and protection of Jenny. Your organisation will have policies and procedures in place about reporting concerns. Your action means that you are not following these which could lead to disciplinary action taken against you by your employer. Also, it could also lead to an investigation by the SSSC which could result in sanctions.
- If you sent the message in your own time, outside of work, you might think that has nothing to do with your employer or the SSSC. However, the SSSC Code of Practice for Social Service Workers states that you must not behave in a way outside of work that calls into question your suitability to be a social service worker. So, you could still find that your actions are investigated.
When you received the initial friends request from Jenny, right thing to do was to not to respond to it and to contact her care manager right away. You can find more about why this was the right thing to do here.
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