A report from the front line of the Welfare State by Esther Rantzen Television programmes often show people with problems - poverty, homelessness, children in trouble. Now, for the first time, a programme has been allowed to show the people whose job it is to deal with the problems - social workers: someone from the welfare. Their work is usually confidential. But with the co-operation of both sides, we follow just a few social workers as they try to cope with the problem of providing housing and money; holding families together; or even-when finally necessary - separating children from their parents. Social workers don'make moral judgments. They see all their ' clients ' as being in real need, although the taxpayer may sometimes resent the £237 million spent annually on their work. But do any of us really know what a social worker does? In an ordinary working week, any one of them is likely to be involved in more dramas than most of us will see in a lifetime. Producer JENNY BARRACLOUGH
