My research has mainly focused on professional identity and organisational culture in child protection both in the UK and in Belgium using a variety of different methods from ethnography to visual methodology. Drawing on various sociological perspectives I have critiqued the way in which risk averse, performance driven cultures can affect the regional activities of social workers situated in statutory agencies and how this can lead to the development of skewed management strategies of particular directives. More recently, I have explored the impact this kind of conduct, exacerbated by the unintentional pursuit of problematic strategies, can have on children and families involved in statutory intervention.