Memoirs of the Secret Social Worker is a skilfully crafted novel, providing readers with an insight into the inner workings of the fictional Fenton Children’s Services.
What becomes apparent early on is that the reader is placed into a similar predicament to the social workers - insofar as we need to make decisions about the safety of the children and the capabilities of the parents in question. In addition, the narrative requires that we make decisions about the reliability (and at times) capacity of the social workers themselves. This is a clever quirk of the book, and a testament to the skill of the writer. We are never quite sure whose viewpoint can be trusted, and in which direction the story will unfold.
The reader is given a comprehensive picture of an array of social workers who comprise Area Team Three.
We are firstly presented with Wayne - a character difficult to warm to, for many reasons. He is depicted as someone slightly out-of-touch with the world (he still lives at home with his mum, and seem to lack a social existence outside of work). Wayne is in some respects a contradiction in terms – unable to see fault in himself, and yet able to find it quickly in others. He is clearly competent in many ways, and certainly driven by his own desire to make a difference. In fact, Wayne is a perfectionist in his work, and expects high standards from other. He is often disappointed when others do not achieve the levels of effort, he deems necessary, and is clearly frequently bewildered by the actions of his co-workers. Wayne certainly has reasons to be proud of his work – he is known for the excellence of his life story work, a process whereby he carefully crafts a folder of pictures and wording to handover to his young charges later in life, a precious record of their origin story.
There's no doubt that Wayne feels that he's doing the best for the children under his care. Therefore, it comes as something of a surprise that, by his own admission, he isn’t a natural with children.
Whilst Wayne is not someone who can take feedback, and seems at times to lack self-awareness (his sharp, internalised criticism of others can be seen as a projection of his inner fears about not being ‘good enough’), he does seem to at least be aware of his limits when it comes to relating to the children he is charged with making decisions about.
The small fact of not being a natural with children doesn’t get in the way of his work, because Wayne really believes that he is doing the best for the children. In fact, rescuing children seems to be his raison d'être
As the story unfolds, we get a clue as to Wayne's loneliness, and his human emotions. Whilst initially (and perhaps, to an extent, throughout the novel) Wayne is not an easy character to warm to, he is nonetheless a constant, and is supportive of his team members in their hour of need (up to a point, anyway).
The challenge presented to the reader is that whilst Wayne is unlikeable, Mr Leigh (the male of the family Wayne is assigned to), is an incredibly abrasive and difficult man. He is the father of twins Brendan and Kyle, who are being looked at for possible removal from the family home due to neglect. Mr Leigh's wife, Saira, is shown to be in the background of their lives. We don’t quite understand at this stage whether this is due to her fear of social care, and inherent introversion, or something more sinister at play. The unlikability of Wayne at this stage perhaps obscures the reader's judgement.
The narrative is certainly cleverly portrayed so that we are unsure whether what we are seeing is neglect, or at times, very sloppy parenting.
Part of the challenge for the reader in distinguishing the issue at hand is that facts are delivered by Wayne, or from his viewpoint, and thus we are unsure as to the reliability (as well as likeability) of the teller. Again, this mirrors the complex situations that the social workers themselves are thrown in to- being forced to interpret the actions of parents, to imagine the things that they can’t see behind closed doors, and to interpret through the lens of reality the things that they can observe.
As the story pans out, we learn with more certainty whose actions were correct, and our view of Wayne evolves, as does our view of Mr Leigh .and of Saira, who we recognise as being the victim of something far more sinister than we, the reader (and indeed, Wayne, the social worker) could have imagined.
We are introduced to a whole cast of characters, many of whom seem quite unsuited to working in a social work role. Take for example Deidre - a more senior member of the team - and one who irritates colleagues due to her lack of motivation for doing any social work. Or indeed any work at all:
‘They had all noted her last period of “sickness” lasting a full month, which had been unchallenged by their supervisor. She was clearly creating for herself an ‘administrator’ position, and she must have been under the illusion that undertaking regular home visits was optional!’
‘She was possibly the laziest social worker in Fenton Children’s Services, so something must have happened to her to have got off her chair.’
Of course, we come to understand, that there is a compelling backstory as to why Deirdre has adopted the coping strategies that cause so much frustration to others, and thus, once the narrative scratches under the surface, sympathy is skilfully evoked for another seemingly strange character.
Sadly, Bill’s response to Deirdre’s disclosure about her past evokes no empathy, and instead forces him into a combative position:
‘She was clearly fragile, and the best way to deal with her was to allocate her the worst cases and hope she would quit.’
An ongoing strength of the story is the fact that it provides commentary on the wider picture in children’s social care. The social workers are clearly struggling. They are all at the mercy of a system lacking time money and the capacity for human interaction. The social workers are unsupported, underfunded and overworked. They are blamed for everything that goes wrong and given little or no credit for the things that go right. It must be an impossible situation to work in. And whilst some of the characters are less than likeable (David, for example), we do get a sense of the extreme pressures that they are under, and how such pressure can have an explosive effect on all areas of their lives.
At one point in the story, Wayne, showing a softer side to his character, contemplates helping a parent to purchase a gift after ahead of being reunited with her children after a year has elapsed since she has seen them. He realises he will unable to get hold of even £10 whilst the children are under a Section 17.
“There was one last thing that Wayne felt was needed. A year was a long time, the boys may be nervous and if she could hand them a gift each, this would be more natural. It didn't need to be expensive. He knew that in principle, he could approach Bill and request ten pounds from the Children Act Section 17, petty cash budget. But what a waste of time and energy that begging process would be. Bill was bound to say no to this reasonable request.”
The team manager, Bill seems to care little about the people at the end of his decisions, showing no real interest in supporting his team. If he does care about anything, it is money, and not spending too much. His focus (if he has one) is more about accountability and his concern is more for budgets than human life. Bill is an ineffective manager, at best who seems at times to have given up:
‘Bill had always felt unfortunate to manage such an overbearing group of social workers. He was constantly being dictated to and patronised or plain ignored by them.’
Bill’s lack of insight into his poor managerial skills allows the reader to see exactly how the situation at Fenton Children’s Services has reached breaking point.
We also see how powerless the parents are in the face of social work intervention. Those who do possess the assertiveness to write letters of complaint are ridiculed, and their efforts are disregarded:
‘‘Just listen to this!’ Bill said eagerly. ‘Don’t ever send that social worker out to our house again!’ he read aloud, clearly finding the contents amusing.’
Not only do we gain insight into the world of the social worker, but we are also given a window into the lives of the parents, who seem to exist at the mercy of their own traumas as well as the social care system.
The story of Tracey is a difficult case to read; a drug-addicted mother who has no support (and seemingly little power) to rehabilitate is forced to undergo pre-birth assessment, the result of which deems that she must give up her newborn baby.
‘It was unfortunate for Tracey that she had been allocated such a bigoted social worker to undertake the pre-birth assessment. She had been taken in by his superficial kindness initially, but there was little depth to him and certainly only selective empathy toward any of his clients.’
It's hard not to find a personal frame of reference when as a reader you have experienced the indignity of a pre-birth assessment, and regular meetings during pregnancy to discuss the safety of your unborn, child. The difference was, I had no personal issues to resolve -. no addiction, no reason for social care to be in my life. The crime belonged to my children’s father, and thus I was dragged into the net. Although having social care involvement at such a stressful time did cause me a few mental health issues that didn’t exist prior.
Witnessing the lack of support we received in our own lives, and the abundance of scrutiny, it is not difficult to imagine Tracey’s hellish story playing out in real life. Of course, the reader cannot help but feel utterly shocked and appalled for the tiny baby, who has been exposed to the drugs in Tracey’s system and must endure a painful withdrawal period following birth. It’s a shocking state of affairs, and it makes the reader question just how Tracey ended up in the predicament in which she finds herself, and how she became so powerless to drugs.
The Secret Social Worker skilfully includes a backstory, which reaches back a couple of generations, to Tracey’s grandmother, a Jewish lady who was held in a concentration camp during the war. Tracey herself has experienced the death of her mother to cancer at a young age, and seemingly has little support to process that grief, having felt responsible at the time for holding the family together and putting her own needs aside. The lack of support she receives leads her to turn to a life of poor decisions, poor relationships, and drug addiction, which culminates in the tragic removal of her drug-addicted newborn.
The scene of the birth, and subsequent stay on the ward is handled sensitively and allows the reader an insight into Tracey’s mind.
‘It wasn't until the child was born on the 22nd of January at 9.50 am that Tracey realized that she had been rash in signing the adoption relinquishing forms. She assumed, though, that it wouldn't be too late her beautiful baby girl hadn't been planned but will be a link to her late mother.’
Of all the chapters in the book, this is the one that most frequently brought me to tears. Tracey is an emblem for intergenerational trauma, as well as the hopelessness of current systems.
David has his own problems going on in the background. These issues, it seems, are somehow immense enough to cause him to skip several vital steps during the adoption process - something that comes back to haunt him. He is forced to hand the case over (not a difficult feat in social care, by all accounts, and certainly not difficult in a social work team where the culture is to pass the buck);
‘Your fingertips touched the file cover, and it was yours. That was how it worked.’
Rather worryingly, we see that Siobhan, the social worker in receipt of the case file, is keen to impress David, who she has romantic feelings toward, and will seemingly do anything to make him happy:
‘Siobhan wanted to please him, for him to see her in another light. And naturally, she lapped up the attention she received.’
The reader is left to wonder how things will pan out for the helpless families involved in this fiasco now that the weight of the case is left to Siobhan’s judgement. This makes another engaging storyline as we wait to see if Siobhan will ‘do the right thing.’
David is a complex and interesting character. We are presented with his human failings. Are they inherent within him? Or are they caused by the stresses of the job and the breakdown of his marriage? Or perhaps a combination of all of the above.
‘David made no secret of the fact that he had enjoyed a sheltered childhood. Before embracing a career in social work, he had never come across and Class A drug users. He couldn’t relate to them at all. It was something alien to his middle-class private school upbringing.’
‘David had never suffered in life. What did he really understand about people who struggled to put food on the table for their children.’
These are pertinent points. Often families are faced with having decisions made about their future by individuals who have never had to face the struggles that they face. Is it any wonder that the chasm between the social worker and the family can seem so wide?
An unwise fling with a social work student several years his junior leads to the breakdown of his marriage. The breakdown is messy, and he is unable to see his own children. Instead of fighting for his rights, it seems the easier path for David to take is to throw himself into his work, falling for Melissa, the wife of Dan, a middle-class couple who appear on the scene ready to foster Tracey’s baby.
David is not thinking clearly. He allows himself to become too close to his clients. His judgement is further impaired as he turns to alcohol in order to be able to cope with the ongoing trauma and pours his heart out to the couple over intimate dinners at their home, where he also makes promises that they will definitely be able to adopt the baby.
Unfortunately, David’s enthusiasm for the suitability of the couple, and his feelings for Melissa lead to several errors being made on the case, prior to handing over to Siobhan. He has not followed statutory processes, and he knows that the case is a mess. He effectively knowingly hands Siobhan a hot potato and then attempts to micro-manage her handling of the case.
It is through the complex inerwoven relationships of the characters within Fenton Children’s Services Area Team Three that the Secret Social Worker really shines a light on the human failings of the characters. These people are fighting desperately with heavy caseloads whilst also coming up against their own personal battles, for which they have no time, and little inclination to seek help.
We are encouraged to understand the personal and operational difficulties faced by social workers and it is easy to see how, in situations like this, with such ineffectual leadership, poor supervision and a bottom line of caring only for budgets, that the social care system can be in such a mess.
Overall. The Secret Social Worker is an excellently written novel. The narrative really gets to the heart of the characters and what drives them. The reader is taken on a challenging journey, forced to confront the harsh realities of frontline social work and child protection practice, whilst making ‘assessments’ of character, mirroring the assessments that the social workers themselves have to make. The author is compelling, courageous, and adept at drawing the reader in, through weaving together the complex stories, depicting the characters' quirks, strengths, failings and joy.
In the words of Michael Sheath (Crossing the Line) ‘social workers inhabit a world characterised by the grey shades of risk, but they have to make black and white decisions: should a father stay in the household or not? Can he have contact with his children or not? Should the Local Authority issue legal proceedings or not?’
It's a system desperately crying out for more investment from government. People need support, not scrutiny- and that includes the social workers themselves.
Memoirs of the Secret Social Worker is available on Amazon
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My name is Annie Hope. I am a writer with lived experience as a family member of someone who had the Knock. I am a professional writer, and I am able to work with your organisation, charity or with you as an individual in a variety of different ways. Please have a look at my website to find out more.
I also run a free writing group for family members of those who are convicted of sexual offences. You can find out more about the group here. You can find blog posts with free advice about writing and helpful tips in my main blog index here.
You can contact me by email anniehopewriter@gmail.com
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