Adult Mystery
"I reach for Avery and the minute she is in my arms I know that nothing will ever be the same, will ever be right again. The heat is rising from her skin, searing into my own. There is no flutter beneath her eyelids to let me know she is just sleeping, no discernible rise and fall of her chest."
Ellen is a social worker working for Human Services, happily married and the mother of three. One morning she and husband Adam wake up late and scramble to get going. At work, investigating a situation where children appear to be in danger, she is unaware that Adam had strapped baby Avery into her vehicle's car seat...
...until Avery is pulled from the van desperately ill from heat stroke.
When the press gets word that a childrens' protective services worker left her baby in a locked van they play it to the max to boost viewership. A lot of people are out for blood. Her agency goes into cover your ass mode, focusing on how their actions will look to the public. Ellen finds herself separated from Avery and in danger of losing all her children and going to prison.
"Through the rear window, she saw her father lifted roughly to his feet by a police officer. She could see that he was speaking earnestly to the officer, bobbing his head frantically toward the departing bus."
Ten-year-old Jenny had lived with her mother until an incident had landed her in foster care. That's an experience she's determined never to go through again. Now she's living precariously with her dad, a man who burns through jobs and girlfriends.
Jenny and her father are about to make another of their frequent moves. She's on an interstate bus, all her possessions stuffed into her backpack, waiting for him to join her. Suddenly she sees a terrifying sight. She knows she should get the bus driver to stop and let her off but can't. Police are involved and police mean foster care.
A kind waitress, Maudene, notices that something is not quite right. She takes Jenny in to keep her off the streets until something more permanent can be worked out. Maudene is Ellen's mother.
Ellen and Jenny alternate in narrating a story so suspenseful, so engaging, with characters impossible not to care about, that readers will find the book hard to put down. If not impossible. I found myself staying up late with a Heather Gudenkauf mystery for the second time in less than a week. It takes a lot to keep me from adhering to a regular bedtime since getting enough sleep is a crucial part of keeping my petit mal under control.
In addition to a riveting narrative, Gudenkauf serves readers some real food for thought. She asks us not to be so fast in condemning parents who lose custody of their children. If we're honest most of parents can recall at least one instance where things got out of control but came to a good resolution. Sometimes random chance determines who gets to raise their kids and who doesn't.
On a purrrsonal note, or not so random chance. There are a number of factors entirely unrelated to parental competence that enter into child welfare decisions.
1) Departments of human services are unconscienably underfunded and under resourced. Front line workers are stymied by too high caseloads and gaps in the services they are able to access.
2) As Gudenkauf points out the press latches onto the human services stories that will boost viewership or readership. This happens every few years or so in Maine. A child dies a violent death. News media kicks into overdrive. The public wants heads to roll. Human services goes into damage control mode. Public interest wanes quickly until the next violent death.
3) Social workers are not immune to society's implicit biases. People of color, people following different lifestyles, and low income people are much more likely to be investigated and lose custody. Ellen is a white, married professional. What do you think the chances of positive outcome would have been if she'd been a Black, low income single parent?
4) Poor people are much more vulnerable to circumstances beyond their control. A child's illness or snow day is a crisis for a single parent who can't afford to lose a day's wages or even a job. (Jules)
I think it will rain or snow soon. (Tobago).
A great big shout out goes out to Gudenkauf for yet another riveting, thought provoking masterpiece.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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