I've never been to anything like a Child's Court...... Yet! In my job though, being in people's houses every day and seeing the conditions in which some of them live (sometimes through choice, sometimes not) DOES get me down, some days.

And, it's the kids. Many of our clients have children, usually more than one, and the conditions these kids have to live in almost defy belief. One of my colleagues has EIGHT clients (out of 31 on her caseload) who have one or more of their kids "in care". I only have one, but she's had FOUR children over the years, all of which have now been adopted...... and who knows if they're in a 'better place'?! There's a LOT of other stuff we see, on pretty much a daily basis... too much to really go into here.... suffice to say, it sucks.

As to how I deal with it, well..... occasionally, it's very difficult. Mostly, though, I've reached the stage now, after nearly 17 years doing this, that I can "switch off" when I leave the office and put it out of my mind. Now & again, that's impossible, which is where Team support comes in..... helps ALL of us to put things into perspective, even if just a little bit. The general concensus in MY workplace is, that's how we HAVE to deal with it...... we've all seen those who can't manage to switch off "burn out".... and that's when WE need the help!!

I hope no-one who reads this thinks of me or my colleagues as callous...... it's just the best way we've found so far of dealing with what can often be very traumatic circumstances.

DM

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The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind