Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Love, Joy, Feminism

Home
Nonreligious
Anonymous Tip: Meet the Social Worker

Anonymous Tip: Meet the Social Worker

Last updated on: December 26, 2014 at 10:57 am by Libby Anne

Anonymous Tip: Meet the Social Worker 2014-12-26T10:57:57-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Today we meet the social worker, Donna Corliss. What’s really interesting is how Farris introduces her—hungover with her law school boyfriend, lying to her boss and skipping work.

The late morning sun crept slowly across the bedroom floor. The first ray of light crawled up the bed, touched her eyes and stabbed deep into her skull like a flash of lightening. Donna Corliss would be getting into nothing that Friday, except the bicarbonate of soda.

Yep. This is how we meet social worker Donna Corliss.

She sits up, groans, and turns to her boyfriend, Stephen J. Stockton. Stephen is also in bed hung over, and we soon learn that he is “two days away from his Juris Doctorate” at Gonzaga University School of Law. Not coincidentally, Gonzaga is Farris’s alma mater. Farris speaks of Stephen and his associates as “party-goers” who drowned the pressure of law school in “kegs of beer” and were apprehensive about the bar exam they would face ten weeks later.

As Donna makes coffee and coaxes Stephen out of bed, we learn that Stephen does not like his parents, that Stephen’s parents have a new summer home on a lake, and that Stephen’s father, Connor Stockton, Esq., is a “name” partner at a prestigious law firm, Wilson, Stockton & Bodecker. We also learn that while his father graduated fifth from Gonzaga, Stephen is graduating first. After briefly rehashing his successful father with Donna—Stephen says that his father “has it all” and Donna reminds Stephen that his father is “so proud” of him—Stephen collapses back into his bad, moaning about how terrible he feels.

Next Donna calls her boss, whom we are introduced to as “Mr. Blackburn.” “I don’t think I can come in today,” she says. “I’m not feeling well.” When Blackburn asks if it’s serious, she says she has “a bad headache and some stomach upset.” Farris writes that Blackburn suspected alcohol, but didn’t say anything about it because Donna was one of his “star” social workers. Donna was “as tough as nails,” we are told. “I can’t have my ace investigator out for long,” Blackburn says.

We also learn that Blackburn’s office has the best rating in the state. “Most successful investigations. Most prosecutions. Most convictions.” Donna mentions that Blackburn is hoping to win “Top Child Advocate” again, so it’s clear this is an award he has won before. Blackburn tells Donna to get better quickly. “I can’t have my ace investigator out for long,” he says. Through their banter, Farris establishes that Blackburn is eager to retain his office’s number one rating and receive the “Top Child Advocate” award again, and that Donna feels the pressure.

Blackburn checks his email and finds that a Priority 2 complaint has come in overnight—the report Gordon called in last week. “I guess it can wait till Monday,” he says. Farris explains that Donna was so relieved that there was nothing pressing that she forgot she had a day-long in-service training session already scheduled for Monday. The amount of time it takes Donna to make a visit to the Landis home is going to become a big issue as we move through the book.

Farris finishes this section with this:

She dropped the receiver roughly on the cradle, weaved slowly across the room, and collapsed back on the bed.

This, then, is how Farris introduces his social worker villain.

Actually, in this short section Farris establishes not one but three characters. Donna he establishes as follows: She spent the night in bed with her boyfriend; she drank herself silly at a party; and she called into work sick as a result. We are also told that she is an ace investigator who is “tough as nails,” but we watch her put off investigating a Priority 2 child abuse report. Farris establishes Stephen as is a soon-to-be lawyer who is given to partying, has daddy issues, and comes from old money. Finally, Farris establishes Blackburn as primarily concerned about maintaining his office’s top rating and winning another “Top Child Advocate” award.

But let’s go slightly further before pulling the curtain for the week.

We pick up on Monday morning, as Donna drives to her office—“the Spokane office of the Child Protective Services division of the Department of Social and Health Services of the State of Washington.” We learn that Donna has a BA in sociology from Western Washington University in Bellingham and a graduate degree, presumably in social work, from Washington State University in Pullman, and that she has been working for CPS for five years. And of course, we get commentary like this:

Western had a beautiful campus but was equally well-known as a great party school. When she graduated, Donna had left the university’s reputation well intact.

And then there is this:

After five years on the job, Donna had seen it all. Sexually molested children. Mostly step-fathers and live-in boyfriends. Broken arms. Broken skulls. Scalds. Cigarette burns. And more than a handful of uptight religious nuts who insisted on spanking their children.

Presumably, this is stated from Donna’s perspective—so here we learn that Donna thinks of people as “religious nuts.” And this becomes another theme—Donna dismissive and disdainful of those who are different from her, especially religious types.

Donna arrives at work fifteen minutes early—normal for her, we are told. She checks her email again and pulls up the report about Casey Landis. She “mutters a few foul words under her breath about mothers who beat their kids,” checks her schedule, and concludes: “No evidence of a real emergency. It’ll keep ’til Wednesday.” We learn that Monday will be spent on the in-service training and Tuesday will be given over to juvenile court hearings.

So, what else have we learned? That Donna was a party girl in college, that she has seen horrific abuse, and that she is disdainful of “religious nuts.” That Donna always gets to work early, and that she uses “foul words.” But also, again, that she puts off the Priority 2 report.

This is where we’ll leave off. Next week we meet Gwen Landis and her daughter Casey.

Uncategorized

Anonymous Tip

Previous Post

December 25, 2014

Do Traditional Gender Roles Lead to Good Sex? No.

Next Post

December 27, 2014 #DefendTheDuggars (Sort of)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Jesus' earthly father, who was a carpenter, was named what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph Jonathan Jacob Zechariah