Social workers declared first responders in welfare reform push

Social workers have been formally designated as first responders in the country’s restructured social support system, under a major reform unveiled by Prime Minister Mia Mottley aimed at modernising welfare delivery through the newly established Social Empowerment Agency (SEA).

Prime Minister Mia Mottley told the launch of the first SEA client centre at Six Roads, St Philip, on Wednesday, that the shift reflected both long‑standing structural weaknesses in the social services system and the increasingly complex social challenges facing Barbadian society.

The designation of social workers as first responders was shaped by mounting social pressures, including economic hardship, housing insecurity, an ageing population, youth vulnerability, disability inclusion gaps, and family instability, which often present as overlapping crises.  

The prime minister traced the origins of the reform to her administration’s first months in office in 2018, when she undertook a detailed review of social services.

“When we were elected in 2018, the first estimates that I had, I took the time to question at length the structure, the functioning and the purpose of the social services agency,” she said. “And the first question I asked was how many social workers we had in each agency. And by the time we finished, it was clear that while one agency may have had 30 or 40 or 50, the collective amount of social workers in Barbados was over 300.”

She said that realisation laid the foundation for a fundamental policy shift. “And therein, with your communication to me, lay the seeds for the first responder approach that every social worker in this country must be a first responder.”

She placed the reform within a broader historical context, recalling earlier attempts to reorient social policy during her tenure as deputy prime minister under former prime minister Owen Arthur. She said that even then, the need for a people‑centred system was clear. 

She said: “We knew from then that we wanted a people‑centred approach to the delivery of social services and that what we had with us was a Victorian approach that effectively worked for the functioning and ease of the agency and not the people it was seeking to serve.”

Mottley said the consequences of that outdated model were well known. “We heard the horror stories that many of us as members of parliament have equally heard. ‘I had to go from this place to that place to that place to that place, and then I didn’t get the satisfaction.’ How many times have you heard that?” she asked.

She argued that despite Barbados’ political and constitutional progression, too many public systems remained rooted in archaic thinking.  

“Ironically, if we step back and look at the larger context, the reality is that too much of Barbados looked, in spite of our going towards and becoming a republic, too much of Barbados looked like it was still being ruled by Queen Victoria,” she said. “The approach to welfare was a Victorian approach. The approach to criminal justice was a Victorian approach. The approach to child detention and child protection, a Victorian approach.”

Against that backdrop, Mottley said the government made a conscious decision on coming to office in 2018 that the delivery of social services had to change. She pointed to the philosophical distinction she said has long separated the Barbados Labour Party from its political rivals. “Where we’ve differed is that the Barbados Labour Party has always believed that you carry services to people,” she said.

She explained that the SEA model was built on two clear directives given to Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Kirk Humphrey. “I gave him two remits. One, that we need to be able to have a people‑centred agency. And two, we needed to be able to bring services to the people,” Mottley said, adding that the overarching goal was “moving people from dependence to independence to interdependence”.

The prime minister also cautioned against unrealistic expectations, noting that while the public often demands instant results, institutional reform requires time, coordination and cultural change. “We live in a world where people expect instant action, instant results,” she said. “The commentary on governments and departments is that if you don’t respond instantly, you are incompetent, you are failing, you’re no good. The country needs to understand the process and the building.”

But, she stressed that efficiency remains central to the reform effort. “I also understood that in getting efficiency of time, that I needed efficiency of communication and efficiency of people buying into the concept,” Mottley said, telling social workers and administrators present: “You all will determine whether the people of this country feel that history has been made.”