A new study looking at the way social workers in England use social media to observe parents and children has concluded that covert surveillance is rife among social workers engaging with families.
The study, which was published in September, by academics at the University of Birmingham, England and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, also noted that the proper use of social media within a social work context was largely unknown due in part to confusion around what kinds of investigative powers were available for child welfare professionals.
But a piece by The Times in March confirmed that some British social workers were breaking the law by covertly surveying and accessing private information about service users through platforms like Facebook. The Times referenced a government-funded study also produced by the University of Birmingham which found social workers had used fake profiles to “friend” parents in cases where their posts were not publicly viewable, which is in direct violation of the law. Social workers even watched parents’ relationships and behaviours online to monitor domestic violence and substance abuse.
A research paper from 2017 noted similar patterns among American social workers, with over half of those polled saying it was permissible to search for a client on Facebook.
The new research suggests that social workers using Facebook are set into three categories: those who actively use the platform to spy on families, those adamantly opposed to the practice (through either an inability to use social media or a moral standpoint citing user privacy) and social workers reluctantly drawn into usage by service managers sharing content with them.
The report calls for more clarity on social media use by family professionals, but this call is not the first.
This site originally made the call in 2017, which prompted the President of the Family Division at the time to issue guidelines. Those guidelines were produced by social work regulation body, the Health & Care Professions Council.
However, the published guidance for social workers was limited in scope and did not offer a robust breakdown of the law and what social workers could and could not do in relation to social media searches.
An earlier piece of guidance was issued in 2012 by the British Association of Social Workers, which was also too limited in scope and content.
There is a need for an organisation like the The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory to produce a definitive guide setting out human rights and legal privacy boundaries, as well as proper ethical processes for any social worker thinking about accessing service users’ social media content.
Further Information:
- My Social Worker Is Stalking Me On Facebook – What Can I Do?
- Social Workers Spying On Families Are Breaking The Law
- Social Workers Told To Keep On Posting, In New Social Media Guidance
- Social Workers To Use Facebook To Track Down Parents In Care Proceedings
- Over Half Of Social Workers Believe It’s OK To Search For A Client On Facebook
Researching Reform 
I’ve been saying it for years now about SSs/SWs spying on our Facebook’s but nobody would believe me at all
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One of Derbyshire County Council’s social workers spent much of her private time on her home computer trawling the web in an attempt to discredit our family when the LA was unable to evidence us as unfit parents. Not only was this a breach of our privacy, but her own family was made privy to all our details. She even trawled the web for family that do not even reside in the UK. The council condoned and supported her actions. The irony of this story is that this same social worker a few years later was exposed by another service user of Facebook, as the face of the ‘child catcher’ FB post that made headlines, where her and her fellow social worker colleagues (all of the same council) amused at being able to remove children from parents. Interestingly neither the council nor the association for social workers took any action against any of those social workers.
The lack of accountability is a greater threat than that of social workers stepping outside of their remits. Without that accountability, where does the line end and who determines that reach?
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I recall reading somewhere that a Social Worker can only look on service users/parents Facebook profiles once before it becomes harrasment.
What happens, when any of us have it in writing in a letter or through a Sars Request where it states they will continue to monitor us, so openly admitting it (using mental health as a reason/excuse to not take too much notice where emails were shared about re what got posted between several professionals who work for the Council and after being falsely diagnosed anyway at the time a parent had Social Services involved prior) so would be considered as sharing false information to third parties perhaps to discredit us.
I can also inform you, that it appears our phone calls can be/can be considered to be monitored to your Council. This is something I can evidence where it’s appearing our names are red flagged, and the problem is then that the places or professionals it has got shared with can amount to slander, or at least your Council holding inaccurate information on you when you had already got falsely diagnosed through Court proceedings xx
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Reblogged this on tummum's Blog and commented:
I recall reading somewhere that a Social Worker can only look on service users/parents Facebook profiles once before it becomes harrasment.
What happens, when any of us have it in writing in a letter or through a Sars Request where it states they will continue to monitor us, so openly admitting it (using mental health as a reason/excuse to not take too much notice where emails were shared about re what got posted between several professionals who work for the Council and after being falsely diagnosed anyway at the time a parent had Social Services involved prior) so would be considered as sharing false information to third parties perhaps to discredit us.
I can also inform you, that it appears our phone calls can be/can be considered to be monitored to your Council. This is something I can evidence where it’s appearing our names are red flagged, and the problem is then that the places or professionals it has got shared with can amount to slander, or at least your Council holding inaccurate information on you when you had already got falsely diagnosed through Court proceedings xx
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It goes to show they will stoop to anything to achieve their goals, legal or otherwise.
I wonder if the courts condone their actions & allow their “evidence”
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