‘My social worker got my life back on track’: how the profession helps people find a future

From recovering from a severe car accident to being supported through adoption all the way into adulthood, we hear from those who formed a close bond with their social worker – and why that relationship was so valued during difficult times

With the media spotlight often falling on social care in high-profile cases of child abuse or neglect, the huge spectrum of support that social workers provide for both children and adults – and its benefits for society as a whole – can be under-recognised.

But for Ifeanyi Nwokoro, it’s hard to imagine what life would be like without the input of social care professionals. In 2010, a car accident left him with a spinal cord injury that meant he was paralysed from the shoulders down; as he prepared to be discharged from hospital it was a social worker who helped him take the first moves towards getting back to university, got in touch with a care agency, and started the process of getting him into independent living. She even found some secondhand furniture for him, which her husband delivered.

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