ABSTRACT
As a young girl growing up, I knew very little about social work. There was a local social welfare office, and I remember hearing people talk about married couples going there because of marital quarrels, or to make arrangements for the care of children after they had split up. I was aware that it was the place where dowries were left after a marriage had broken down1 and I heard of men leaving money for their wives to pay for their children’s maintenance after their marriages had failed. Because of this, social welfare was, for me, a place where married couples with conflict went. It was never portrayed as a place where any conflict might be settled! I always assumed that the staff of the social welfare agency
must have had some form of authority from the government to be in a position to handle such family problems. However, today I know better . . .
