BBC documentary Protecting Our Children followed a team of Bristol child protection social workers for two years. Despite the obvious risk the series has a crucial role to play in raising public awareness, writes Annie Hudson, the council's director of children's services
Find out more about the programme and take part in a live debate about the issues raised
It would be strange indeed if I said I never had an anxious moment about the prospect of Bristol's social workers appearing on national TV.
But although there were obvious risks involved, we believed the series would help to raise public awareness of the intrinsically invisible and private activity of social workers.
It offered the chance to show some of the daunting situations faced by social workers and their managers, as well as the wide repertoire of skills and the fine judgements needed to make difficult decisions.
I also believe we have a duty to be more open about what we are doing, thus encouraging more informed debate about the issues which social workers grapple with on a daily basis.
It helped that Bristol had already worked with the BBC on a similar series seven years ago, called 'Someone to Watch Over Me'.
Critical to our agreement to participate was our confidence that the programme makers were not looking to make 'quick fire' documentaries about 'shocking' stories, but instead were committed to following events and relationships unfold over a longer period.
Establishing the 'rules' for consent was crucial and included some groundbreaking work with local courts. Our overriding concern has been that filming should not undermine children's' interests or get in the way of the work needing to be done.
I have huge admiration for the courage of social workers, families and other professionals in agreeing to be filmed. The experience to date has been largely positive and there is a real emerging sense of pride in having participated amongst staff, both those filmed and others.
The programmes cannot and do not show child care social work in its entirety; nor do I expect public or professional consensus about the practice issues shown. What I hope is that they give the general public a flavour of both the challenges of child protection work and professional integrity of practitioners.
The litmus test will be whether the films contribute to a better public understanding of the realities of childcare social work, thereby undermining the dire stereotypes that are often the currency of public debate.
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