Samantha Taggart

We meet Samantha as a woman in her 40s with a serious drug addiction which she supports by prostitution. She has two daughters who are already in trouble with the police and involved in gangs. The first part of her story frankly reflects the health and social problems of her lifestyle including the impact of a stalker. The crisis that the stalking leads to marks a major change in her life and we resume her story when she has cleaned herself up and is drug free. Now her problem is that one of her daughters (Helen Douglas) who has a three year old child and a violent boyfriend engaged in criminal activity. The story now focuses on child protection issues, the role of the health visitor and a range of other professionals working to safeguard the child. We see how the health visitor works with new mothers but then has to switch to dealing with the complex problems challenges of the situation.