Mr. Michael Walsh:

The Deputy asked what kind of response I got on escalating the difficulties I was experiencing up to senior management. Senior management came down to the office and asked why I was escalating it up to them. There have been several times when a child was in difficulty and in need of an assessment by a consultant. I can think of one such case when a child needed to be seen by a consultant on a Friday evening; it was late, and I escalated it. To my knowledge, it had been escalated to senior management three days earlier. That Friday evening, I received a phone call asking why I had escalated the case and on Monday morning a manager arrived in my office asking the same thing. I was asked who I thought I was to contact senior management and that I should cease that practice. It is difficult when one is on the front line and can sometimes be left holding the can.