Lord Justice Wall: – “What social workers do not appear to understand is that the public perception of their role in care proceedings is not a happy one. They are perceived by many as the arrogant and enthusiastic removers of children from their parents into an unsatisfactory care system, and as trampling on the rights of parents and children in the process.”

“Social workers have immense powers and terrible responsibilities. If they make a wrong decision, the consequences can be catastrophic. A failure to intervene when a child is being violently abused by its parents can lead to the death of that child, as was shown so tragically in the Baby P case. But a decision to take children away from parents who are, in fact, loving can have almost equally awful consequences.”