As more and more bad actors weaponise notions of child safety to legitimise racist attacks on immigration/migrants it’s so important to see cross-sectoral opposition! 💥

New paper considering the state of play of UK child welfare responses to extra-familial harm for the British Journal of Social Work with Rachael Owens, Jenny Lloyd and @carlenefirmin.bsky.social #extrafamilialharm #contextualsafeguarding #childrenssocialcare academic.oup.com/bjsw/advance...

Antonio La Picirella, Day 3 on ‘Handala’

Back on strike! Sign the petition below to demand Durham University management rule out compulsory redundancies & work with @ducu.bsky.social to find non-staff cost savings!

Re-posting, in light of Casey report

Back on strike! Sign the petition below to demand Durham University management rule out compulsory redundancies & work with @ducu.bsky.social to find non-staff cost savings! ✊🏼❤️

As we gear up for strike action tomorrow & Saturday, we'd like to take a moment to extend heartfelt thanks to those who've donated to our hardship fund, including: IWW Northumbria Branch (£300), UCU Birmingham (£100), the OU branch (£250) and numerous individuals giving generous personal donations.

Times & places for today's strike action: 8.30–11.00 Pickets at main crossroads entrance (by the 'What Lies Beneath' map) 11.00–12.30 SGIA Teachout: Whose History? Statues and the Politics of Decolonisation, online & in Dunelm House B16 Friday 12.30–14.30 Branch Strategy Session, Dunelm House Lounge

Our new paper is out led by @lauriewroe.bsky.social & with Delphine Peace on learning from #Contextualsafeguarding Across Borders with refugee young people in Germany. Interesting to be bilingual researcher on the project - reminder of how language/trajectories shape contexts & concepts.

#Socialworkers! #Migrantjustice activists - give Social Workers Without Borders @socialworkerswb.bsky.social a follow on here 👀❤️

New article for European Journal of Social Work with co-authors @nhuegler.bsky.social & Delphine Peace! Learning from the Contextual Safeguarding Across Borders research project with #refugee young people in Germany, part of the #contextualsafeguarding programme www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Day two of the strike, and we've ben getting a lot of questions from students about the action. What's it for, why are we doing it now, and how can they help. So let's run through some Strike Questions! 🧵

Also, while we're talking about our strike, a lot of students have been asking how they can support us (being fully aware of who actually has their backs in this uni), and what it means to cross (or not cross) a picket line in this case. We'll defer here to our excellent Instagram team on this one.

Very proud as UCUC treasurer to have authorized a payment of £500 to the Good Law Project today!

Mgt just refuses to call off compulsory redundancies, saying they want to prioritise “voluntary” severance. This is a classic risk aversion dilemma—the more people believe the Uni will sack them anyway, the more likely they are to take the VS £ although they’d rather stay. That’s not voluntary!

Sign sign sign! Our jobs are on the line!

Solidarity with UCU members at Durham Univeristy Striking today. Staff are standing up against job cuts and defending the future of education! ✊ #ProtectEducationNow #UCU

Rally time! Jamie lays it out!

Great turnout today on @ducu.bsky.social pickets. On strike to protect professional services staff jobs. An attack on one is an attack on all! Management tried to pit academics against professional services staff - they've failed! We are *all* the university!

ON STRIKE as a member of Durham UCU in response to Durham University management’s proposed staff cuts of £20m. University management has refused DUCU requests to stop compulsory redundancies & to work with us to find non-staff cost savings. Sign the petition: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Full themed section for Critical and Radical Social Work with Dr Leona Vaughn @bupjournals.bsky.social now online 👀 Race, class and the weaponisation of child safety. All available here: bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal... (Accidentally deleted original post)

Rachael Owen's and Jenny Lloyd have a new book with @brisunipress.bsky.social Documenting their extensive experience of working alongside practitioners to change systems. The book is about how we feel and do systems change- plus poems! policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/doing-real-l...

Read the full editorial here: bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

Know anyone who might be interested in a part time Operations Manager role at Social Workers Without Borders? Take a look below and please share! @socialworkerswb.bsky.social www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/social-...

From an idea in the NWSSDTP Youth Risk Research Network @livunihss.bsky.social , to fully fledged special issue: 📢'Race Class & Weaponisation of Child Safety' Thanks to amazing co-editor @lauriewroe.bsky.social & our contributors bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal... #race #class

This is such an important and timely special issue. It's well worth a read! @theswag.bsky.social @michaellavalette.bsky.social #SocialWork #ChildProtection

Myself and @drleona.bsky.social have edited a new Special Collection for Critical and Radical Social Work: 'Race, Class and the Weaponisation of Child Safety' - now available online! Editorial here: shorturl.at/nj4O9 Links to the other papers in the thread below (almost all Open Access!) 👇

New book chapter 'Bad medicine? Drugs policing, harm reduction and social inequality' with Will Mason in the Handbook on Crime and Inequality from @stephenfarrall.bsky.social and @susanmcvie.bsky.social Available here: www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/b... And here: www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/han...

Deputy Director role at the Institute of Race Relations @irrnews.bsky.social irr.org.uk/about/vacanc...

On my way home from Warwick Law School, talking about the politicisation of child safeguarding, racist folk devils and the ‘soft’ power of the State. Much more organising to do against the racist policing of Black young people and their communities under the guise of safeguarding

“Pine Grove (fire camp) carries on this unique legacy of labor exploitation, employing teenage boys and young men — many of whom have been incarcerated for a significant portion of their youth — to do life-threatening work that serves communities they haven’t had a chance to be part of as adults.”

International Federation of Social Workers issues censure against the Israeli Union of Social Workers for not acting to promote peace in Palestine “The IUSW’s refusal to request the Israeli government exempt social workers from combat roles is a breach of the Statement of Ethical Principles”

Really recommend this book for all social workers - story of Malik Al Nasir’s journey through our broken care system & his friendship with & mentoring from Gill Scott-Heron. It’s a wild ride & a powerful reminder of what care really looks like. Essential reading for social work students!

New Year is a time for plans and manifestos. In this #ACFM microdose Nadia Idle, @jemgilbert.bsky.social, and I go back to the source and read The Communist Manifesto by OGs Marx and Engels. Listen as we explore a text containing 'banger after banger' quotations novaramedia.com/2025/01/03/a...

From 2022 to 2024, 100,000 people died trying to cross the English Channel.

2025 work intentions: 1. Work & organise with projects & people up for challenging power & supporting resistance 2. Do so whilst remembering that my time belongs to me not the institution - support my local Union branch 3. Continue to make complaints about rude reviewers 😆 - culture needs to change

I haven’t really joined in on here yet! But myself and the wonderful Steve Crossley have just wrapped up this terms Abolitionist seminar series 💥 for the Communities and Social Justice research group at Durham Sociology - and it was great! For those of us working in practice reform - a must!

Important news today! 🎉 Proud to work with @migrantsorganise.bsky.social and many others to fight for access to justice.

Social work Bluesky - who has traced the roots of UK social work in Britain's imperial/colonial past? In the way that say policing is traced to the quelling of unrest in occupied Ireland etc?

A great (and beautiful!) safeguarding resource from @actbuildchange.com and The National Survivor User Network: assets.actbuildchange.com/production/f...

With Molly Manister bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

Posting a few articles from the last year or two: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Social Workers Without Borders has joined bluesky, follow us here: bsky.app/profile/soci...

We are thinking of Amir Safi, and his grieving family and friends. Another young person failed by the immigration system, with social work complicity. We are sorry on behalf of the profession. 1/ tinyurl.com/y4xam3ts