Mr. Joe McCarthy:

They may be. Each case varies. Everybody can be represented legally so if one includes the parents as well, one is talking about a lot. That is right because there must be due process. We are concerned that the weight is developing. Do childcare proceedings have to take that form and be in that setting? Do they have to be so adversarial? It is a stressful time for everybody, including the social worker and parents. When a young social worker is handed a caseload where there might be court proceedings that can be overwhelming, daunting and huge pressure. Without manageable caseloads that are well supervised and a gradual induction into the process, it can be very overwhelming and quite soon a social worker will think, "I need to get out of here". When talking about recruitment and retention of social workers, the priority should be what can be done to keep what we have. The court is a small aspect of it, but very significant.