Protecting Our Children

Episode
Episode 2 - Expecting Trouble
Broadcast Info
2012 (59 mins)
Description
Susanne is a newly qualified child protection social worker in Bristol. As a matter of course, all newly-qualifieds are given simple, low-risk families to work with. However the most straightforward situations often develop into something far more ominous. Susanne’s very first case is to help a family with their three year-old boy, Toby. He has global developmental delay. The family need support and advice about how to improve his upbringing and the conditions of their untidy small flat. However Mike, the father, is hostile towards Susanne so she can’t help the family in the way she would like. The risk in the case increases when unexplained bruises are found on Toby. More experienced social workers are drafted in to help Susanne but the parents still won’t accept the support and their parenting of Toby remains in question. After months of trying to affect change the team manger Sallyanne decides to take the case to court. Contrary to popular opinion, social workers do not have the power to remove children from their parents. As the situation deteriorates further, Tiffany gets pregnant. Her unborn child becomes another case for the social workers. What happens to the most vulnerable people in society - the ones who fall through the gaps in the social care system and are not in a position to receive help for their family? Shaun and Marva live life right on the edge and their challenging story will touch any heart. They’ve already had three children removed after social workers decided they were not fit to care for them appropriately. ‘Expecting Trouble’ follows them through their fourth pregnancy and shows the unexpected outcome for their newborn. We follow the complicated decisions Annie, the hospital social worker, has to make to try and protect Shuan and Marva’s unborn child. To do that she has to find a way to engage with the couple. Yet they pose such a risk, she needs two security guards with her on all visits. Normally we only get to hear about the mistakes in social work, Victoria Climbie and Baby Peter Connolly being the obvious examples. The sensitive nature of revealing peoples lives when they can be at their most vulnerable and confidentiality of cases means we rarely get to see the complexity of the work from the inside. After a year and a half of negotiating access with Bristol City Council, the police and NHS trusts this film takes us deep into the heart of how Annie works directly with one of most defiant couples in Bristol who play by their own rules. Their past has been blighted with violence and alcohol but this film follows them through Marva’s pregnancy and sheds a new light on their vulnerability. Remarkably Marva makes progress that no one thought possible. She stops drinking, splits up with Shaun and is housed in a woman’s safe house up until the birth. It’s a twist no one would have predicted but will she be able to bring up her own baby?
Genre
Social Work; Law

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Protecting Our Children". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/82433 (Accessed 09 Jan 2025)