Social workers must visit homes to help children

IRISH child protection workers must get out of the office and into children’s homes if they are really to protect children from neglect and abuse, a leading social worker has said.

Child protection expert, Professor Harry Ferguson, said that Irish social workers must avoid following the British model where “bureaucracy is in control of what social workers do”.

While acknowledging the importance of audits, accountability, rules and procedures, he said that the social workers’ emphasis needed to return to “the child” and “meaningful interaction with the child”.