I agree totally with jake, of course there are bad Social Workers, but equally, there are some very good ones, the good never get reported, they don't sell newspapers.
However, in the case of baby 'P', they came out, deservedly, not looking good, but that shouldn't deatract from the stirling work others do.
What is sad is that the media only ever seems to show us social work when it goes wrong.
I have worked for several social work teams in my time, and I never fail to be impressed at the hard work and real commitment most workers show towards their clients. I have seen individual workers in tears when they have been unable to resolve a case successfully, and that's not out of fear for the jobs, either, before anyone jumps on that.