Giving to a person begging on the Underground

Good plan Anya!

Might have been better had the SW simply acknowledged the man, her client, with a 'hello X how are you today?'

That way the begger would have known he was recognised and moved out of that particular carriage, or indeed got off the train.

Sorry, Robert, but I am not assured.

The social worker was absolutely in the wrong in my opinion. Firstly for disclosing private information about her client and secondly for telling the Mother what she should and shouldn`t do . The child was obviously safe on a moving train a few feet from the Mum !
I donate to Shelter and would prefer to do it this way but if I saw someone who looked in need, as I did just before Xmas, I would give to them.
There is a massive homeless ness problem in this country at the moment , not everyone is an alchoholic/ drug addict .
You were right to speak to the Social worker , I would have done the same .

I can absolutely assure everyone that this was a real incident on the Northern Line at about 9.45 am on Thursday. And when I spoke to the social worker I did so very quietly so the mum and two little girls couldn't hear. The mum sent the little girl with the coin as I expect she thought it was safer to keep her seat with the other child and watch what the little girls was doing a couple of yards away, and maybe she thought it would be a good lesson for the child. I don't think I've ever posted on Gransnet before - but this seemed to me to be a moral/behaviour issue on which i was interested to hear the views of other people. Do we support beggars? If we say we don't, do we in fact give to homeless charities? Was it right for the mother to give the coin via a child - when musicians play in the street I've often given a coin to my children or (now) grandchildren to "put in the hat." And should the social worker have spoken out, knowing what she knew about the beggar?
But a genuine situation I assure you.

Hypothetical situation.
There is a word for this.

I don't give to anyone begging.

If this actually happened I don't think anyone come out of that all clean and light and shining bright.

The SW, if she was indeed a SW, taught everyone that there is often much more to any situation than meets the eye but also gave out confidential information which she had no business doing.

If the SW was who she said she was and was factually correct then the man begging lied to gain money and clearly had no shame in doing so in front of a carriage full of people. I think they call that deception in legal circles and used to be 'gaining pecuniary advantage by deception' but think it is called something else now. Bit late for my brain box to be thinking of things like that but no doubt someone else will have better knowledge of that than I have anyway.

The mother sent a small child with a gift to a man neither of them knew and clearly needs to be very much more careful. She would have been better to have done the deed herself rather than encourage an unsafe action.

In telling the SW off you probably confused the issue for the child if not the mother too.

Personally I would never give money to someone begging as I prefer to give to fulfil a need as in food etc.

Is this a hypothetical situation? It certainly sounds like it.

The social worker should have kept her mouth shut about knowing the man at all and telling everyone about his situation. She is being totally unprofessional.

I generally would not give money to someone begging. How did he pay for a tube ticket in the first place?
I might have bought someone in that position a hot drink and a sandwich.

Tell the man to talk to St Martins.
www.connection-at-stmartins.org.uk/

The mother. Nothing wrong with teaching your children compassion.
Anyway, I bet the social worker has not tried to live on benefits recently.