Family, School and Bureaucracy

Abstract

Pauline is very worried about what might happen to Derek as there seems to be no dear way in which the child can win in his situation. She had first met Derek, who is thirteen years old, about six weeks ago when she had been asked to visit the family. Apparently, the neighbours had complained sseveral times to the police about’ the noise from the Collins’s house; nearly every night there was a disturbance with screams and crashes. The police came and quietened everything down on several occasions, sometimes having to separate Mr and Mrs Collins from each other. Then other neighbours had called in the N.S.P.C.C. in order to find out whether the child was being beaten or not. The N.S.P.C.C. officer could not gain any clear impression of what was happening to the boy but had grave doubts about his safety. So the area team was contacted and Pauline went to talk it through. At the same time, the team had a referral from the school liaison officer that Derek had been missing school for several weeks for no obvious reason.