Social workers who protect children in South Africa carry a burden of trauma – better preparation could help

I am a social work researcher and educator, and have worked in the field of trauma for more than three decades…. In a recent study in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, I interviewed frontline child protection social workers and supervisors, and then piloted a care programme with them. This experience suggested a troubling answer: many social workers are carrying trauma silently, in a system that offers them almost nothing to hold it.