Did you read the
yesterday? There was a
about a little girl who died because her mum didn't give her any food.
A week ago, there were three
items on TV about parents who hurt their children and last month social workers gave
in court
about a man who had sexually
his two teenage daughters. We spoke about family problems with David Webb.
David works for Liverpool Council's Children's Services Department. He is a child
worker.
"Parents are not always loving and ," David says,
"and neglect and child abuse are not new.
We hear more today, because neighbours, and friends tell the police and the police inform us about these .
Some cases make the news headlines but we know that a lot more children suffer the ones who my colleagues and I meet."
David's team deals with physical abuse, sexual abuse, home
children and the children of drug
and alcoholics.
The team works with the
family if possible, but the child protection workers
on what is good for the child.
David sees chiIdren of aII ages, from babies to
. A lot of the older children have run
from home because of abuse.
"There are a number of for abuse," David tells us. "Poor education, money problems, poor conditions.
Imagine being at home all day with a small child in a tiny and no money to go .
Sometimes parents are too young to know how to look children. A lot of the parents are almost children themselves."
When you read about these cases in the newspapers you see that abuse isn't only a problem
poor families or uneducated people.
It can happen in all
of families.
"Every family can be a problem family," David says.
"A lot of the time we need to help
the before we can help their children. Sometimes the parents have problems because nobody looked after them when they were children.
You can often see a going through the generations. All of the cases I deal with are very sad and sometimes the cases are so shocking
that I think about giving the work. But yesterday I sorted out another case and stopped another child's suffering.
That's when I know that all the stress is it."