‘Crossing the Line’: child protection and welfare managers' and social workers' experiences of social media, online and digital abuse and harassment in Ireland

Users of child protection social work and/or their families are fully entitled to express their dissatisfaction with the professional or service through both formal and informal channels. Fair criticism and dissatisfaction can sometimes, however, escalate and cross the line into violence, harassment and abuse (VHA). Social media online and digital platforms have made it possible for professionals to be subjected to VHA around the clock, in front of a wider audience, all the while making it very difficult to escape or disconnect from. But what constitutes ‘crossing the line’?. The findings presented in this paper are from the qualitative phase (Phase 2) of a mixed-methods exploratory study of social media and online abuse and harassment of social workers and probation officers in the Republic of Ireland. Nineteen semistructured interviews were conducted with experienced child protection and welfare managers and social workers. The study found that most participants believed child protection and welfare workers were at increased risk of VHA and expected some level of abuse or harassment due to the serious nature of their work. Participants demonstrated an empathic understanding towards the motivations behind the VHA behaviour by the person instigating it. The paper presents a new ‘crossing the line escalation scale’ based on the experiences of social workers and managers in child protection to assist with the assessment of social media, digital and online abuse. The contribution of this study is to provide first-hand accounts and analysis from child protection workers and managers on where this line might be.