'This felt worse to me than someone wrongly reporting me to the police. I may not have been physically arrested, but mentally I felt shocked. How could this have happened to me?'
The day I was reported to social services, I was with my two children at a local play centre. I remember trying to hide out of view as I sobbed inconsolably.
The voice on the other end of the line was calm and reassuring, but that didn’t help much at the time. They said they were looking into my case. While feeding my baby to sleep that night, with her elder sister snuggled next to us, I felt a deep sense of panic rising up in me as I lay there in the dark. Was I parenting wrong? Was I so ‘bad’ that the social services were going to remove my babies?
The social worker I spoke to reassured me that it was standard procedure to look into any reports they received. She explained that their initial response would be to contact some of the playgroups I attended. I felt so ashamed that a number of playgroup leaders would discover I was in ‘trouble.’
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Cronyism fears as businessman Sir Ian Cheshire is named head of Channel 4Jon Snow and other leading broadcasters express concern over appointment and call for C4’s public service remit to be protected
Read more »
Cronyism fears as businessman Sir Ian Cheshire is named head of Channel 4Jon Snow and other leading broadcasters express concern over appointment and call for C4’s public service remit to be protected
Read more »
Michael Grade confirmed as Ofcom chair despite MPs’ warningFormer BBC chair will lead watchdog even though report said his knowledge of social media and online safety clearly lacked depth
Read more »
A report castigates the National Health ServiceThe findings are unprecedented in NHS history, in length and scale—and, arguably, in condemnatory tone. Disaster should not have struck this often
Read more »
Alec Baldwin is in great spirits as he treats himself in RomeAlec Baldwin is in great spirits as he treats himself to ice cream in Rome during break from filming his new Christmas movie
Read more »
The Growing Racial Gap in Childhood Exposure to Gun ViolenceBlack kids were already exposed to more gun violence than white kids. The pandemic widened that gap, writes JosiahBates
Read more »