[lettie]

Yes it is tealeaf, and sometimes we are very wary about houses we are going in. Some of the houses we have to go in include homes which have somebody living there with history of violence towards women (domestic or assault convictions) known paedophiles, or people who have physically abused a child, the only house we were told not to go in recently was one in which the police had found firearms.
We go in there, because sometimes the women in there need help and our care, they have also just had babies and because of their circumstances we sometimes have to assess their ability to care for the baby and report back to social services if there are concerns. It has usually been pre decided by a case conference at social services whether the family can take the baby home or not, but if not, we still have to care for the mother.
The scariest bit is actually being called to a home delivery at night, yes we still deliver babies at home, I have been called to 5 so far this year and they were just local ladies in Accy and Ossy and they don't all live on nice houseing estates. It's amazing how many people are on the streets at 3am in Accy.