Protecting Our Children
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- Episode
- Episode 3 - Expecting Trouble
- Broadcast Info
- 2012 (59 mins)
- Description
- For child protection social workers every case is different. They can learn the rules about how to protect children and understand there are clear boundaries, but every individual family and their circumstances throw up new contexts. Their last resort is to take the matter to court so the child can be removed from the parents. Sometimes when things go well they can make the rewarding decision to return a child to their family. No-one can predict which way a case will turn out. This observational film interweaves three stories which show the different levels of urgency in these decisions due to the different levels of risk posed to the child. Wayne and Louise are recovering drug addicts. Mercedes, Louise’s baby, is removed at birth due to their drug habits. The baby is placed in temporary care while the social workers work with Wayne and Louise to prove their abstinence and assess whether they are capable of parenting Mercedes. Although time is not on the baby’s side to ensure the right development and attachment, the social workers have months before a final decision needs to be made. Another situation involves an emergency response with not a moment to lose. A health worker reports to social services that a child is in risk of being sexually abused by the mother’s boyfriend. The social workers, accompanied by the police have to visit the house immediately. They try to persuade the mother to leave immediately with her son. But what happens to the child if the mother cannot be persuaded that the risk is genuine? In the third story social workers are alerted by housing officers that a flat is in a poor unhygienic condition and a mother is living there with her seven year-old daughter. Fortunately the extended family can be called upon to look after the girl. This allows the social workers to spend time with the mother to make the home safe and help her with her parenting. What connects these stories is the need to ensure a safe secure environment is put in place for the child. But it’s always easier said than done,
- Genre
- Social Work; Law
How to cite this record
The Open University, "Protecting Our Children". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/82434 (Accessed 09 Jan 2025)