Madam, - John Waters (August 21st) writes with unfortunate predictability - unfortunate because his evident passion for pointing out error seems to push him into extreme and lonely positions and predictable because we have heard such broad stroke allegations against social workers many times before.
It is also unfortunate because, in his repetitive rants, John Waters further alienates those who might share something of his passion. John Waters insists on the essential role that fathers play in the care of their children, whether or not they are married to the child's mother.
If he were interested in looking for it, he would find that many child-protection social workers share this position, work late into nights and travel great lengths to facilitate contact between fathers and children.
John Waters is angered by what appears to be the complacent reaction to the huge numbers of children in care of the HSE. If he looked for it,
John Waters would find that many child-protection social workers are angered and frustrated at the lack of community-based resources, which means that parents and children do not have prompt access to the kinds of support and therapy services that could keep families together and out of HSE care.
John Waters points to the power allegedly possessed by child-protection social workers. If he had asked social workers about this, he would have heard much laughter, as many child-protection social workers struggle with a real sense of powerlessness when faced with child abuse and neglect and a system that demands too much from under-resourced child-protection teams and community-based support and therapy services.
As for his repeated charges that social workers act as unaccountable automatons, I am surprised that John Waters appears ignorant of the fact that regardless of what is recommended at case conferences, it is the courts that ultimately decide whether or not a child is to be removed from the care of his or her parents.
And, as is proper, when the court makes such a decision, it is certainly never on the say-so of a social worker.
It would be tempting for social workers to conclude from his writings that John Waters acts in the very way that he alleges social workers operate - without accountability, and with prejudice and negligence.
But as a profession, social workers attempt to build alliances even in the worst of circumstances and work together with people in the interests of co-creating positive change with people who seek or require our service.
Sadly, John Waters is at risk of sounding like the hurler on the ditch who has many harsh words to say, but little understanding of what it is like to be in the thick of it. - Yours, etc,
DECLAN COOGAN, Communications Co-ordinator, Irish Association of Social Workers, Pearse St., Dublin 2.