My debut novel Known to Social Services, published by Faraxa Books, will be released in less than a fortnight. This has understandably been a very busy and exciting time for me.

In the course of all the necessary promotion, I have opened a Twitter account. This may seem very basic to most of you, but to me, it was unknown territory, as being of a certain age, I simply “didn't get it”. My daughter will tell you about the ordeal she went through when she offered to assist me in setting up this blog, but that is another story! 

I am pleasantly surprised to say that I have managed to figure out the Twitter account, which is all well and good, but which has added one more thing to my daily checklist. Facebook, G mail, Blog, Google+, and now Twitter. It’s a wonder I have any time left for writing.

Through this latest blog, I want to give a bit more insight into the book and more information about my own background as a social worker.

Known to Social Services is in a literary genre of books known as nonfiction. This is loosely defined and fairly flexible in description, but broadly speaking, actual events have been woven together using fictional storytelling techniques.  In this way, a nonfiction novel does not have to stay within the constraints of reality, but allows the author the license to elaborate and fictionalise the story.

As the disclaimer in Known to Social Services states;

Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. 

While this is correct, there are certain themes within social work, which are fairly constant; issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, drug and alcohol issues, mental health problems, the oppression of women and a multitude of others.

Many of the events in the book will ring true to my colleagues as “the norm”.

Known to Social Services is not presented as a reference book, or a textbook. It is not intended to be deep or theoretical; it is a nonfiction novel, about the interrelated fields of social work, counselling, mental health, and child psychology and is based on my own first-hand experience as a child protection social worker. The intent of the book is to raise awareness of the challenges faced by social workers. Using the previously mentioned themes, I have used the book’s central character Diane Foster, to provide a fictitious narrative, which I hope gives a pragmatic and authentic perspective.

I was asked recently if I felt I had stereotyped the people I portray in the book. This was a thought provoking question. In my role as a child protection social worker, I worked with a specific “type” of case; ones which usually required immediate and urgent multi-agency intervention in order to safeguard the child or children in question. Inevitably, this brought me into contact with very similar “types” of families.

I have heard many of my colleagues’ state that all their cases seemed to blend into one huge case of abuse. It can certainly seem this way as you deal repeatedly with perhaps 25+ cases of injured children, domestically abused women, drug and alcohol addicted parents and sex offenders. As quickly as one case is closed, there is another close behind it, demanding attention. Prioritising a challenging workload is one of the social worker’s greatest skills.

While each case is approached holistically, and assessed on the presenting issues at the time, stereotyping is unfortunately almost inescapable especially given the parameters and the recurring themes, which present themselves to all who work in this field.

The same can be said about the stereotyping applied to social workers, which is something I hope the book will accentuate.  For the average person in the street, the social worker is often viewed as an ineffective, out of touch, useless busybody. For the record, we are usually portrayed as sandal, wearing hippie types, or tweedy academics, neither of which is accurate.

In my experience, social workers are hardworking, dedicated professionals who strive to maintain a high standard in their complex role. They dress pretty nicely too J.

Naturally, as in every profession, there are exceptions. However, the social worker is much maligned and, in my opinion, one of the most misunderstood and negatively stereotyped of any profession. I know that the greater percentage of the general public do not have the slightest idea of what life is really like for social workers.

While out in the field, I have been subject to abuse and attack in more ways than I care to recall. I have been threatened three times with a knife, twice with a shot gun and have had death threats levelled against me. I have been spat upon, kicked, punched and had my hair pulled. I have been sworn at on an almost daily basis to the point I almost became immune to it (almost). I have been held hostage twice and I am unashamed to say that know what it is to be afraid.    

I know that I am not alone in my experiences, and I am not complaining.  I chose this profession and it has been very good to me. Even with all its challenges, I loved my work and had a real sense of achievement and job satisfaction.  

In writing Known to Social Services, I hope that I have managed to achieve the balance between the reality of my experiences with the creative and fictitious writing of a novel.  

I sincerely hope that you agree.

Freya