Hanged If You Do…

Child protection social workers have to walk a tightrope between protecting children in their families and protecting them from their families. Well-documented scandals have involved both the failures of social workers to intervene soon enough, if at all, and failures involving premature or draconian interventions which were subsequently found to be unwarranted. While doctors differ and patients die, there is a public expectation that social workers will protect all of the children all of the time. This is a personal account told in a conversational, non-academic style that finds humour even in some dark places.