Perhaps I misunderstood the venue to be a place for learning,sharing information and views how wrong I was.

These are my experiences

Some are found accommodation and sorry to say forgotten about and considered at lower risk,therefore little intervention takes place.( we know this does not solve the issue’s).Those children who remain in the home are at risk and is worrying for the social worker,because we expect the abused parent to protect the children if they do not we ask why not.

Domestic abuse is complex and hidden, social work is now target lead whereby the focus is on meeting timescales and not actual social work.You are left with the sense of not being in a position to dig deeper.

A child or abused parent is not going to be open and honest about what is taking place in the home.The abused parent may have been witnessed to abuse in the home enviroment since childhood therefore this is not new behaviour the parent who is now the support system for abused parent may have been the abusive parent.My point is there are many different examples which require establishing a connection that takes time for the parent/child and can be painful/difficuilt for the parent.They may not be aware of the clues thier child is telling them about the effects on thier mental well-being.

When you make contact to carryout your assessment there are different challenges at play being aware of the signs is important is it not.

I find it difficult understand why it is even questioned whether this should be a part of social work training especially when this is a large part of social work assessments for the courts,risk assessments and or parenting assessments.

Assessments are important documents.Assessing someone over the phone to meet timescales and save time is not an assessment in my view at any time especially during child protection case’s.You do not get a sense of the enviroment in which the child lives,you miss none verbal clues,the parent who claimes the other parent is turning the child against them( parental alienation)or (manipulation) is this because the child is subconsciously protecting the other parent? Therefore have they witnessed abusive behaviour?

These are my views,experience,observation has a child protection social worker for over 43 years.In my view it is an area which needs more resources,research and social work training with social workers having the time to plan effective interventions which will provide meaningful information/assessments inorder to safe guard children.

There are largely committed and hard working social workers and managers who are committed, however are unable to provide what should be a professional service.

There are those who are not I speak from experience.

Is this not what we trained to do.Being open and honest in my view is about giving the child the best outcome!!