Writing daily logs on children in residential care is a key part of the job. But, argues former children’s home worker David Jones, it is too often neglected, with adverse consequences for children and for relations between staff.
By David Jones*
In my 12 years as a residential child care worker, I can’t recall any training courses or written guidance for staff on writing daily logs in children’s homes.
This occurred to me recently when reading an article about case recording in social work. Whether written for social care records or case conferences, social workers must ensure they are child-focused and sufficiently detailed in relation to the young person’s environment.
This got me reflecting on some of the logs I had read over the years.
Records that tell you little
“Billy returned from school, ate his tea, then watched TV before bed at 9pm,” gives no indication as to Billy’s mood or whether he’d had a good day at school or enjoyed his evening of TV. And writing this at 6pm, when the evening had barely began, should not be tolerated. But it was.
And four years after leaving the service, two former colleagues of mine, Jack and Rachel, who still work in residential care, tell me poor log writing is still an issue.
“Only the other week, I had to remind a colleague that misspelling a child’s name is possibly one of the most uncaring and unthinking things you can do,” explains Jack.
“What on earth will the child think in 15 or 20 years’ time, when they read their records and see that some staff couldn’t be bothered to even get their name right? How devastating would that feel? It makes my blood boil.”
A lack of confidence or poor attitudes?
Poor recording can, of course, be the result of someone’s lack of confidence in their communication skills, and this is where guidance could help, whether in the form of a template to use as a reference, or a sympathetic colleague.
“Obviously some people have a greater facility with words than others,” says Rachel. “And while it’s important to be aware of this and address it sensitively, the attitude of some colleagues can be found wanting.
“At times towards the end of a shift, it’s routine to check that the logs are up to date. But when the person asking this often shows little inclination to write or read them, it’s maddening.”
The solution to such situations would at first glance appear to be straightforward: employ tact, gently point out your concerns to the colleague and emphasise it’s nothing personal, but a question of simply sharing the workload more equally. This approach, however, can invite conflict.
A cause of conflict between staff
“Most times when logs aren’t up to date, colleagues help out,” Rachel explains. “But there have been occasions when I’ve pointed out that one child’ s log actually needs starting, and the colleague I’m addressing has adopted a confrontational tone.”
I’ve also experienced a colleague resenting my informing them that this task needed doing and turning the situation round, painting me as the one at fault for belatedly bringing it up. Had I mentioned it earlier, the task would have already been addressed, they said.
I remember another colleague who, when working our first shift together, made it very clear that record writing wasn’t for him. While we were both on sleeping-in duty, he suddenly bade me good night and retired to bed an hour early, while I was sat in the office at a computer.
As relaxed as I was to continue with the logs, the sight of him casually walking upstairs, cream crackers in one hand, a magazine in the other, did jar with me. When I brought this up with him the next morning, he said it wouldn’t happen again, but I could see he resented me for doing so.
Undermining quality of care
Inadequate logs are not just a problem for young people reading their records in the future, but for their care in the here and now. Jack recalls receiving a dressing down from a teacher when he picked a child up from school one day.
“She informed me that he’d been in a lunchtime detention for the third time in as many weeks, having been very disruptive in lessons. When I explained this was the first I’d heard of such behaviour, the teacher asked me if we ever spoke to the kids in our care, as I didn’t appear to have a clue what was going on.”
The logs, completed by another staff member, who was the child’s key worker, had detailed none of this, saying only that school was okay.
“He can’t have asked him much about school, or if he did, was content with pat answers,” Jack says. “If you’re picking up a kid from school five days a week, some of the conversation would surely involve school-type topics. I’m sure if the kid had been in detention recently for poor behaviour, basic professional curiosity would pick up something from their attitude or tone.”
How to address poor record writing
Writing professional daily logs is a practice young people deserve, something which ultimately affords them due respect. Hectic shifts, especially when understaffed, needn’t preclude the writing of acceptable logs. Certainly, there’s no excuse for writing lazy, sloppy records that essentially say nothing.
Given the deficits that appear to persist, we need the issue tackled through good supervision and mandatory training on writing acceptable logs. All children’s homes should also have a reference tool on writing logs, available for care workers to consult when needed.
Training should also address the attitudinal issues highlighted in this article. But Jack, Rachel and I agree that some of the colleagues we’ve worked with should have been found out by a competent interview panel.
While children’s homes do struggle with vacancies and staff turnover, we need to ensure recruitment processes are hiring people with the requisite levels of compassion, enthusiasm and basic nous to do the job.
*The author is a freelance journalist and former residential child care worker. His name has been changed.
