ABSTRACT
The trainee manager, school teacher, trade union official and surgeon quickly learn and accept that, both by virtue of their paid position and by their confidence in the use of acquired skills, they are each in positions of power and responsibility. Since the passing of the Children Act 1989, however, the responsibility previously placed on social workers to make recommendations in court reports about the desirability of removing a child from his home has been abolished. Despite suggestions that the responsibility for all child care enquiries should be transferred to local authority departments, the role of the probation service in England and Wales has, in recent years, grown rather than diminished. Most social workers are frequently required to write reports about clients in which they assess their psychosocial circumstances, describe and comment on aspects of their behaviour and make predictions about the future.
