World Social Work Day: social workers in film, television and books

The BBC documentary Protecting Our Children stirred debate among social workers earlier this year. Did it accurately portray social work? What issues did it raise? And will it change public perceptions of social work? Catch up with our coverage of the programme on the network.
Photograph: Sacha Mirzoeff/BBC

Emily Waton plays social worker Margaret Humphreys as she uncovers a government scandal to relocate poor children from the UK to Australia in the 2010 film Oranges and Sunshine. Based on a true account, the film tells how Humphreys reunited estranged families and brought worldwide attention to the cause.
Photograph: Icon Film Distribution

Jacqueline Wilson's Tracy Beaker books introduced one of the author's most well known and loved characters, and were made in to a BBC children's drama. Wilson tells the story of her eponymous chracter's time in a children's care home. She told the Guardian "I try to put funny bits in as well as sad bits." Photograph: PR

John Travolta is know for his flares in Saturday Night Fever and smooth talking in Grease, but one of his lesser known roles is as social worker Scott Barnes in Chains of Gold. A recovering alcoholic hellbent on protecting a young teenager from gangs, the film features slightly more action scenes than you'd expect in the average day of a social worker - but don't let that get in the way of enjoying this retro drama. Photograph: C5 TV

In the 2008 film Happy-Go-Lucky, social worker Tim (played by Samuel Roukin) plays the love interest for Sally Hawkins' teacher Poppy. The film was critically well received and leaves you feeling as good as the name suggests.
Photograph: c.Miramax/Everett /Rex Features

Charles Dickens was a pioneer in his depictions of social issues and his portrayal of the young Oliver Twist in a workhouse remains one of great British Victorian novels. Photograph: Vintage/Penguin Classics/PR

In the film The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, Anna Paquin plays a social worker arrested by the Nazis during World War II for saving the lives of nearly 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto. Photograph: Matt Sayles/AP

Mike Leigh's 1996 film Secrets and Lies tells the story of Hortense Cumberbatch, an adopted successful black optometrist who tracks down her birth mother, who she discovers to be white. The film is particularly interesting in light of recent discussion on placing children in adopted families.
Photograph: c.October Films/Everett / Rex Fe

Precious, a film featuring Mariah Carey as a social worker in New York City, won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009. The gritty film is based on the book Push by Sapphire, and takes an alarming look at a young illiterate and pregnant teenager suffering abuse at home in Harlem. Photograph: PR

Longlisted for the Booker prize last year, social worker Gaynor Arnold's debut Girl in a Blue Dress is a retelling of the life of Charles Dickens from the point of view of his estranged wife. She told the Guardian why being a social worker and novelist compliment each other so well. Photograph: PR