Social workers hit out at restrictions

SOCIAL care workers are “walking on eggshells” and feel they cannot respond in a normal and natural way to children’s needs due to the increasingly strict guidelines they must adhere to.

Noel Howard of the Irish Association of Social Care Workers (IASCW) said following the Ryan Report, workers in residential units felt they have to be extra careful and feared their actions could, at a later date, come back to bite them.

He said children who end up in special care have very often been deprived of love and nurturing but there was a sense among workers that giving children this type of attention could pose problems.