“Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.” An old Irish saying I first heard in primary school and thought I understood. In more...

Child protection social workers have to walk a very narrow line between protecting children in their families and protecting them from their families. Well documented scandals have involved 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.