ABSTRACT
Contemporary child welfare policy and theory have become increasingly influenced by discourses of accountability, risk, and surveillance. This chapter considers emotions in child welfare work and suggests that reflection on this area of practice might offer a source of knowledge and creativity for front-line workers. As workers engage in child protection assessment, the emotional terrain that characterizes their relationships with clients should not be ignored - indeed, it might be seen as a valuable source of insight for practice. The chapter identifies the current trends in practice that undermine expressing and reflecting on the feelings aroused in the course of child welfare work. It explores the potential of some feminist psychoanalytic ideas for understanding this area of practice and assessing how these ideas may be applied in child welfare settings. The chapter examines psychoanalytic ideas about maternal ambivalence and the concepts of transference and counter-transference in relation to work with mothers who are involved with child welfare agencies.
