ABSTRACT
Drawing this book to a close, I’m left asking myself whether I have simply tried to put too much into one book. I’m curious as to whether I have been too broad in my agenda. I wonder to myself whether it feels messy as I move around the sectors and the academic disciplines and the poetry and the images. Then I remember; working with human beings is messy because humans are messy. It feels comforting for people to think of themselves as educators so therefore they educate, or of themselves as police officers so they deal with crime, or that they work in health so they offer medication, or that they are social workers and therefore they are here to safeguard children from harm. The truth, of course, is that in reality, we interweave in and out of these spaces and places and if we are not careful, it is children, young people and their families who are left trying to figure out which box they fit in should they need help, guidance and support.
