A Co Down social worker whose pet Sebastian has won an award for his work as a court therapy dog has said it was clear from the start how much he could help children. Read more:

🚨DEAR GOD!!! A 63-year-old grandmother and a social worker who spent her ENTIRE LIFE HELPING people... ...has just been ST*BBED 12 TIMES by a total stranger and REPEAT OFFENDER who grabbed a knife off the store shelf and ATTACKED HER AT RANDOM She is FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE in the hospital in a coma. Her name is Phyllis Robinson. She's 63 years old. A social worker. A woman who spent her career caring for other people. On Monday afternoon, she was doing the most ordinary thing in the world. Shopping. In Inkster, Michigan. Around 3:15 in the afternoon. Police say a 22-year-old man named Stephen Ross walked up, grabbed a knife right off the store's own shelf, and st*bbed her over and over. Her side. Her stomach. Her back. Twelve times, her daughter says. Police say it was COMPLETELY random. Completely unprovoked. She did not know this man. He just… picked her. Phyllis was put into an induced coma. She's in the ICU fighting for her life. "I hold her hand. I cleaned her fingernails because she had residue from bl00d under her nails." Police say Ross lived in a group home half a mile away. And a worker from that home told reporters he was known to be "mentally ill and violent." That "any little thing could tick him off. Even a person telling him no." Turns out... he was charged previously in 2024 for assault and battery and was LET OUT into a group home and allowed to wander the streets. And a 63-year-old social worker is now in an induced coma because that danger was walking free in a Dollar Tree. He's charged with assault with intent to m*rder. GOOD. He is remanded to jail, exactly where he belongs. Please pray for this family and for Phyllis Robinson. Pray she comes home to her family. WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS.

BREAKING: Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) just announced in a press release that public workers will walk off the job on Monday, Aug 31, from 125+ locations, including state agencies, community colleges, universities, and healthcare facilities. “Years of cuts and ballooning workloads for employees in high-stakes jobs, like protecting vulnerable children, maintaining public safety, and caring for intellectually and developmentally disabled folks, is a recipe for avoidable suffering and billions in liability,” said WFSE President Mike Yestramski, a psychiatric social worker at Western State Hospital. The state set another record in fiscal year 2026 with $537 million in lawsuit payouts, according to the Department of Enterprise Services. Over the last five years, the state has paid over $1.6 billion in tort claims, not including the cost of legal defense. “We are sounding the alarm that the governor’s team seems intent on following the same failed policies that produced the shortfall in the first place,” Yestramski said.

Paula Gibson with her daughter Clare, who passed away in November 2023 at age 45 after a long struggle with alcohol addiction... For more than twenty years, Paula Gibson lived with the fear that the next phone call would bring news of her daughter's death. In November 2023, it finally did. Her daughter Clare was 45. She died alone at home in Aberdeen, Scotland, after a long struggle with alcohol dependence. Her family had spent decades trying to help her recover. Clare's difficulties with alcohol began in her early twenties. Her mother remembers years of conversations, interventions, periods of sobriety and rehabilitation. Sometimes things improved. Then the cycle began again. Eventually, Clare's parents took responsibility for raising her two sons. Her youngest, Craig, was only eight when he moved in with his grandparents. Paula did not want the boys to lose their relationship with their mother. She arranged visits at family centers, hoping they could see Clare in a safe setting. But sometimes Clare arrived intoxicated and the meetings had to be canceled. The family was trying to protect the children without abandoning the woman they loved. Neither responsibility was easy. In 2023, Clare entered rehabilitation again. Her family went to Greece, hoping to return to Clare in recovery. Instead, Clare left treatment. During a hospital stay, she was warned that she could die if she continued drinking. She called Paula in tears. They cried together on the phone. Paula encouraged her to go back into rehab and told her she loved her. When the family returned, a worker at Clare's home reported finding her intoxicated at the bottom of the stairs. Less than two months later, Clare was dead. She had contacted emergency services during her final night. A social worker found her the next morning. The cause was alcohol-related liver disease. Paula says there was grief, but also relief that Clare was no longer suffering. Clare had also made financial provision for her children. Now Paula is telling her daughter's story as new figures show alcohol-related deaths among women in Scotland have risen even while the overall total has fallen. The statistics record a woman who died at 45. Her mother remembers twenty years of trying to keep her alive.