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 friend request 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.
- You have acknowledged that Jenny is now at greater risk of harm because you did want to get drawn into her problems earlier. Therefore, by not acting at that point to get support and care for Jenny, you have shown that you do not understand your duty of care to her as a social service worker, or you have chosen to ignore this. Either way, your suitability to be a social service worker could certainly be questioned.
- You are aware of further concerns about Jenny’s well-being, so you have a duty to report the information that you have even if you do not have evidence. By not passing on the information you have shown that you do not appear to understand 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.
- By doing nothing, you will have breached the SSSC Code of Practice for Social Service Workers which states that you must take the necessary steps to minimise the risk of Jenny doing harm to herself or others. Also the Code states that you must not put service users at unnecessary risks, which you are doing by not passing on the information.
- It is important to remember that you can also be held to account for what you do not do as well as your actions. When you have concerns, doing nothing is not an option.
- If you received the friend request 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 in not reporting the contact from Jenny 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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