Respectful uncertainty

Lord Laming commented in 2003 that social workers are too trusting and ‘over optimistic’. In the wake of the Baby P trial, a review by the National Children’s Bureau indicates that social workers are not listening to his advice and they should take the position of ‘respectful uncertainty’. In other words, they still need to take a more robust approach and ‘guard against a culture of denial and false optimism’.

Is the stance of ‘respectful uncertainty’ enough? I wonder how many more cases it will take before front-line social workers are forced to bring a hard line attitude to their work.