Missing the obvious

I sometimes wonder if my wits are slower than those of those around me. Others seem to know things about the world which I cannot quite grasp. The day before yesterday, it was the dangers of the Internet for children; today it is the motives of local authority officers. Now I have not the least doubt that among the staff employed by the hundred and fifty or so local authorities, there are many busybodies and also not a few people who are more concerned with drawing their salaries than they are with helping the citizens in their area. Some of them are probably also scared that a home educated child will come to harm and they will themselves be blamed. This is human nature. However, I also assume that most people who take up careers with children do so because they like children and care about their welfare. That at least has been my experience with the teachers, nursery workers, Ed Psychs and social workers with whom I work and whom I know socially.

Many of the home educating parents who post here and on the lists apparently think that none of the people working for in local authority departments dealing with elective home education are doing this job because they actually care about children. There are dark hints that they have completely different motives. I am puzzled by this. I may be a bit slow on the uptake here, but what other reason do people think that these staff have, apart from the obvious one of being worried about the education and welfare of children? Many of them are former teachers, which suggests to me that they like kids. I dare say they are good people; most people are certainly that. I simply cannot see why they should be doing all the things which some parents are complaining about unless they really thought that their actions were in the best interests of the child?

I hope that somebody can help with this, because I do pick up a definite undercurrent that many parents believe that these people do not have the kids' interests at heart. If they do not; what on earth is driving them?