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Craig is 10 years old and lives with his Dad. His Mum died last year after being ill for a long time; and since then his Dad has been ‘strange’. He seems fine most of the time, and then out of the blue he gets really violent and aggressive. Craig tries to be good and help his Dad but often his father’s rage is directed at him.
One day, Craig and his Dad were out shopping and Craig dropped one of the bags he was putting into the car. His father got very angry and pushed him so hard that he fell and hit his head. A woman in the car park noticed and was so concerned, she wrote down the number plate of their car. She then called the Child Protection Line to report her concerns. The operator explained that because she only had the details of the car, she would be put through to the police. The woman then explained everything she had seen to the police.
The police tracked down Craig and his Dad with this information, and arranged for a social worker to visit. Craig was taken to see a Doctor who looked at his head. The police officer and social worker discussed the situation with Craig’s Dad and it was decided that Craig would stay with his Aunt for a while, to allow his Dad time to get help to deal with his anger and grief.
After a lot of work Craig was eventually given a choice of whether to stay with his Aunt, or go back to living with his Dad, who was feeling better. Craig chose to go back to his Dad, and things were a lot better than before. The social worker still visits regularly and his Aunt keeps an eye on him.