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(aka Bike) Part 866 by Angharad |
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The doorbell and the phone rang at the same time, I grabbed the phone in one hand and the door knob in the other. “Yes?” I said down the phone.
“Cathy?”
“Yes, who’s that?”
“Andy Bond, I’ve managed to find the Family Liaison Officer and she’s free for an hour or so, so we’re on our way over. Just thought I’d let you know.” He rang off before I could say anything, let alone–no. Oh well, this could be an interesting afternoon.
I showed the Social Services people–all three of them–into the dining room and sent Julie to find Simon, tell him they were here and to come as soon as he could and for her to make us a tray of tea and biscuits. She ran off to find Simon.
I went back to the dining room where the three witches–obviously Macbeth wasn’t playing until the evening–were pulling out sheaves of notes and laying them down in front of them. It looked like a cross between an employers and union negotiation and a meeting of the UN Security Council.
I told the three women that tea was being organised and that Simon was being found to be informed of their arrival. They nodded at me.
“I see you’re calling yourself Lady Cameron now, Miss Watts.”
“Why shouldn’t I use my married name?”
“A civil partnership no doubt?”
“That was uncalled for, I’d like a retraction of that remark and an apology.”
“Retract the truth? Two men cannot get married in the UK.” Her two companions were aghast at this full frontal attack.
“I think you’ll find that a Church of England priest was quite happy to marry a man and a woman.”
“Who was the woman you married?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”
“Dorrit, Mrs Amy Dorrit, locality manager children’s services.”
“I am Lady Catherine Cameron, I have a bona fide marriage certificate to prove the point. I am disgusted by your remarks and I am going to ask you to leave this house immediately.”
“I’ll take the boy with me.”
“Which one Danny or Billy?”
“No the one you’ve probably got all tarted up like a dog’s dinner by now–you people disgust me.”
“On what grounds?”
“Lying to social services officers, and trying to turn boys into girls–you’ve got one, that your money managed to buy you, you’re not getting another, you bloody fairy.”
The faces of her two colleagues were red with embarrassment. The doorbell rang again and someone opened it, “Cathy, it’s the police.”
“Good, send them in,” I called back.
“Hi, Cathy, this is Denise Miller–oh, you’ve got company.”
“Come in, please. This woman has been making unsubstantiated accusations about me in front of two witnesses.”
“Sorry?” said Andy, looking confused.
“These three are from social services, their leader has just accused me of being a homosexual male, and trying to pervert young children into changing their gender.”
“Is this true?” asked Andy, the Dorrit woman went as red as a pillar box and the anger was making her tremble very slightly. I tried to stay calm–I was going to win this round.
The two other social services women nodded.
“I have it on my mobile phone.” I’d used it as a voice recorder. Dorrit went from red to white. “Could you please ask her to leave my house, PC Bond and I’ll speak with her two colleagues about my temporary accommodation for Julie.”
Without further ado, Andy escorted the woman out of the house, her protesting loudly while he was trying to calm her down. There was the sound of a loud slap and his voice saying, “That was a silly thing to do, I shall now have to arrest you for assaulting a police officer. You don’t have to say anything but anything you do say will be taken down and may be used in evidence against you.”
The other two looked perplexed and the police woman looked very concerned. The front door opened and shut and a moment later Simon came in–“Andy has just taken some woman away in handcuffs, he said he’d be back in half an hour.”
Her two colleagues smirked and when he asked who she was, they said, “Our boss.”
At that moment, Julie walked in with a tray of tea and chocolate biscuits. “Do you mind if I make a quick phone call, Lady Cameron?” asked the elder of the two women.
“Please do, there’s a phone in the hall or if you want to use your cell phone, do use the lounge.” I showed her into the lounge.
“What was all that about?” asked Denise.
“We clashed swords in court over the custody of Trish–she lost and the judge gave her a dressing down. She came out fighting when she saw my name on the case notes.”
“Oh, and who is this young lady?” asked Denise.
“This is Julie, about whom this case meeting was set up.”
“Oh I see, nice to meet you Julie, I’m Denise, the Family Liaison Officer, Hampshire Police.”
Julie went momentarily pale but recovered to give her a real wet fish handshake and nod. “Who are you?” Denise asked the other social services woman.
“Dilys Watkins, I’m a trainee social worker and probably will be allocated to this case.”
“Who’s your friend?” continued Denise.
“That’s Shannon Pensfold, senior social worker.”
With that, Shannon came back in, “I’ve spoken to the area manager, I have authority to act for the team.”
“In lieu of your recently removed leader?” I asked.
“Yes.” She smirked at my remark but managed to hold it back enough not to lose the initiative.
We all gathered around the table and after tea and biscuits were consumed, began the meeting. I explained what had happened that morning, so did Julie. Simon went and got Stella who had actually made some notes after her examination of Julie and she gave a copy to the police and social services. She then answered a few questions, such as were the injuries consistent with a beating up? In her opinion they were. Could I have administered the beating? She thought it unlikely, as the bruises looked several hours old.
Denise took copious notes and asked loads of questions, so did Shannon.
“You were dressed as a girl when Lady Cameron found you?”
“Yes, I was lying injured on some bin bags unable to move when she found me.”
“She hasn’t encouraged you to wear girl’s clothing or to act like a female?”
“No way, she told me while I stayed here, I could have the space to explore being a girl if I wanted or I could go back to being a boy. I’d rather die than go back to being a boy.”
“How old are you, Julie?”
“Sixteen. My birthday was in December.”
“Do you feel in any way forced or coerced into staying here?”
“No, but I wish I could stay here, Lady C is wonderful.”
“Do you mind if I say something?” asked Simon, who’d watched all the goings on with great patience. “I discussed with my wife the prospects for Julie to get an apprenticeship in hairdressing, which my wife is currently exploring on Julie’s behalf. At the moment we have five children staying here with us, so I offered to fund Julie’s studies and give her pocket money, if she agreed to assist my wife in running the house and caring for the children–Cathy has a successful teaching career and has been asked to make another documentary film.”
“Is she going to have enough time to supervise Julie during this period of vulnerability?”
“Oh yes, she works from home plus the occasional session at the university. Besides, my sister Stella is here so could help Julie’s supervision–actually, she did hairdressing before becoming a nurse.”
“Have Julie’s parents been informed?”
“I tried to inform them that she was safe, and she spoke to them this morning. I spoke with her mother who was not terribly helpful and as good as threatened physical violence upon Julie and myself. There is a history of beatings by her father.”
“Is that so?” asked Denise.
“Yeah, he beat me up if he caught me wearing anythin’ slightly girly.”
“What about your hair?”
“I got this done when I left ‘ome yesterday.”
I added, “When I found Julie, she was to my mind inappropriately dressed for her age, which possibly helped to precipitate the assault by the man who picked her up at the club and who bought her several drinks.”
“He claimed to be a police officer?” asked Denise.
“Yeah, his name was Arnie something.”
“Not Arnie Ditchley?”
“Yeah, could be.”
“If it is, he was removed from the force six months ago for assault.”
“Is that the one who beat up the gay bloke down by the Spinnaker?” Simon queried. Denise nodded.
“That would explain a lot, you were lucky he didn’t kill you–nasty piece of work.” Simon had remembered more than I could from seeing the local news. “I only remember because I used to travel up to Town on the same train as the victim’s dad–nice chap, worked at the Stock Exchange.”
Simon and Denise were chatting about the case while the two social workers were talking very quietly, there was much nodding and they pointed to various bits of paper and nodded again. Finally, Shannon spoke.
“We’ve decided that once we’ve examined Julie’s personal accommodation--given her situation, we feel sharing a room would not be appropriate–and your efforts to get her to see a doctor who specialises in gender variant children, and some effort to get her into a suitable educational establishment to pursue her chosen career–she can stay. My colleague will arrange to visit you in a month’s time to check on your progress. I must point out that both Lord and Lady Cameron must be supportive of you if you decide you wish to revert back to a boy. Is that understood?”
Simon and I said it was and Julie was dancing around the room with tears and smudged mascara down her face. “This is the best day of my life,” she said and hugged me tightly. “Thank you, so much.”
I calmed Julie down and sent her to show the two social workers her bedroom and en-suite. I was sure that it perfectly fine for the purpose.
“I can’t think of any reason for me to be involved any longer, Andy may call by with some photos for Julie to look through. If it was Ditchley, then we might have a case against him. You don’t still have the clothing, do you–could be some of his DNA on them.”
“I do.”
“Give them to Andy. Then it’s up to Crown Prosecution if we go for it or not. If we do, it would mean Julie going to court, unless we got a confession from him.”
“I’ll get you a confession,” said Simon smacking his right fist into his left palm.”
“I don’t think we’d be able to use it–if we could, I suspect there’d be a few people about who’d want to help you.”
“I wouldn’t need help–I don’t like bullies who go beating up young women.”
“I don’t think many people do,” agreed Denise.
“What about Julie’s parents?” I asked.
“I can visit them if you like and say she’s safe.”
“Will they need to know where she is?”
“As there are accusations of violence against the father, they won’t be told. They will also be cautioned that any future threats or actual violence will be dealt with severely.”
“So you’re happy with Julie staying here pro tem?”
“Yeah, just let us know if she moves from here.”
The two social workers and Julie returned from her room–“The room is perfectly suitable. If you can keep details of any medical appointments, and the names of the doctors so we can get reports from them, or any educational or training appointments you make.”
“I will.” I said feeling like I was at the altar again.
“I can really stay here?” Julie was still so excited.
“Yes,” three of us said at the same time.
“Yippee!” she yelled and nearly deafened us.
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Comments
Wonder what sort
of job Amy Dorrit will get now, One thing is for certain it won't be looking after children, Maybe she could get one to suit her talents.... Now what jobs are there for a small minded bigot!!!
Kirri
Parliament?
She could always run for MP or some local Council office. Or, she could easily find employment with one of the homophobic "pro-family" fundraising/lobbying groups. After all, she's a martyr now to the evil "homosexual agenda." If there aren't enough of those groups in Britain, there are plenty elsewhere. (One of the U.S. groups would snap her up in a second. Americans are suckers for an English accent -- it makes utter rubbish sound more authoritative, or something.)
Isn't it interesting...
how a "pro life" group could bomb an abortion clinic - with people in it...
One issue with letting her lose with other bigots, they seem to gather "strength" from each other, and become louder (and occasionally more violent) and more troublesome.
Totally unrelated - sorta - that keeping the bullies/bigots separated is one reason why many school districts don't put 6th graders in a "middle school". They're trying to keep from getting more of them together at once - and hoping to settle SOME of them down, where they don't have a lot of trouble making peers around.
Annette
Some Overlap, But...
...don't confuse the pro-life groups with the pro-family ones. They're each out there beating different drums, for the most part. There are organizations which support both efforts, of course, but they each have a distinct and influential presence of their own.
The "pro-family" groups are the ones who vigorously oppose same-sex marriage (or even civil partnerships), even in cases where children are involved and deserve to have their two loving parents get equal rights with other families, which would ultimately benefit the children. The "pro-family" groups seek to destroy families where parents might otherwise accept their gay and gender-variant children, by convincing them to send them to indoctrination/aversion-therapy camps. The "pro-family" groups oppose sex education in the schools, because sex is like, bad, and they don't think anyone would ever think of it on their own. They support the teaching of self-loathing in Sunday schools, and counsel troubled teens in the most destructive way. The toll of tragedy and death due to their influence is truly shocking, and they have zero self-awareness or sense of responsibility for it. Shame.
Middle School in the PDRM
Here in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Massachusetts the range for Middle School is typically 5th to 8th grade. My Middle School was 5th to 7th with the 8th at the High School. However, this was primarily due to space conciderations since us 8th graders were not concidered to be High Schoolers and were segregated to one wing of the building.
It is so strange
the different ways that Elementary, Middle and High School is broken up. When I went to school - long time ago, but I'm not saying how far - it was Elementary 1-6, Middle 7-9 and High School 10-12. When my children went it went Elementary 1-5, Middle School 6-8 and High School 9-12. You would think they could get these things figured out.
Absolutely beautiful
Now I can go to bed and dream of happy children, all six of them, dancing in my head. I know it's corny but it's the sentiment that counts. Thanks Angharad.
Hugs,
Sarah Ann
P.S. With her nemesis in jail Cathy should have a much easier time dealing with Social Services on the adoptions.
Character names
“I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name?â€
“Dorrit, Mrs Amy Dorrit, locality manager children’s services.â€
My goodness Angharad, in the past few days your writing has been compared with Mark Twain, but this is positively Dickensian. I guess like her namesake, we can refer to her as “Little Dorrit” too.
I wasn't disappointed with the fireworks, and as predicted, that's a victory for Cathy and commonsense.
We just have to hope that the modern Amy Dorrit does not seek revenge by telling Julie's parents where to find her.
Prejudiced Socialworker
Bike Resources
Bike-866
Now that Julie is settlled,will she become a Gaby Fan?
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Probably
After all, the "Gaby" stories have been bedtime reading for the other three girls, so it's quite possible Julie will discover the books and start reading for herself. Now, how long will it be before Julie discovers what she has in common with both Cathy and Trish?
Being 16, Julie might also enjoy the delights of Whateley Academy, even though the parallels to US boarding/high school culture (e.g. cottage dorm system, clubs and cliques) don't necessarily mirror across to the UK system.
--Ben
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Glad you didn't ...
... metaphorically rip a new one into social services in general; just to one unpleasant one in particular. It seems Ms Dorrit's colleagues weren't exactly her greatest fans either. So what now? Did Julie overhear what Dorrit said about Cathy? It reads as though voices were raised. Will Cathy tell her? Will Trish find out?
Just looked at the time stamp for this posting. I'm guessing Angharad is snowed in this morning and relieving her boredom by entertaining her fans. We should be grateful.
Robi
We are so grateful
We are so grateful for 866 episodes of this entertaining saga. As always, Angharad, I am in awe of your writing talent and the inventive storylines that you weave.
And Dorritt? There's a big hole in the road near where I live; I think that she'd fit in it very well. Let her do something useful for a change!
Yippee indeed.
Susie
You know, it's...
so much easier to "fight" someone that makes their opposition "obvious". An open enemy can be dealt with. It's the hidden enemy, the one that appears, on the surface, to be oh, so helpful. That's the one that can turn on your and really do a number.
That said, this does sound like it'll go well. I hope Julie gets along with the shrink and turns out to be a more than mediocre nanny. She doesn't seem to need any volume lessons from Meems. As far as I know, I never had the physical abuse Julie went through, but the "need to conform" was certainly apparent. I hope Julie learns a lot - about how to be a full person - from the loonies she's now saddled with.
Thanks for keeping things going,
Annette
Your Most Fervent Fan…
… was so delighted with this episode that she rushed off upstairs and wrote this piece of doggerel:
Transphobic Missus Amy Dorrit
A social worker who’s rather horrid
Spoke her mind, oh wow, that tore it,
She was recorded and now she’s for it.
Actually, with due deference to the inestimable Bonzi, maybe it should be CATTEREL?
Hugs,
Hilary
It is always nice when an
It is always nice when an officious b**** gets whats coming to her. She has probably had other run ins with people, not necessarily over TG issues, and gotten away with her actions because of her "status" and position. Sadly, this is not ususal, and is a major reason that many people do not like dealing with governmental agencies, as they don't want to deal with people who try and go out of their way to belittle them.
Great chapter
I can't help but wonder what got the social services supervisor quite so worked up that she verbally assulted Cathy then physically assulted a police officer. Has to be a really traumatic back story somewhere.
Julie is starting to look like a treasure rather than a trial although I'm sure that there will be more unpleasantness with her parents, a rogue ex-cop, and a fired social services supervisor. Now, can Cathy get her to set her sights a little higher than a hair dresser? (sorry if I'm insulting hairdressers but I am in the continuing education camp myself)
I suspect that she heard the rant against Cathy and will have some pretty interesting questions once things are a little quieter around the house.
Since Stella started as a hairdresser then became a nurse ...
And the new girl is but 16 she could well follow in Stella's path.
A science career seems out unless she is a late bloomer accademicaly. Though free of her nasty birthparents she may well bloom.
Hair dressing could provide her a stable income to permit further education as a nurse, social service worker, banker, naturefilm making/photography, professional nanny etc, even the police. She now has access to alot of *networking* options.
I agree this ex-cop and our new girl's birthparents could be bad particularly if they join in with the social service sh**h**d. Hum, is what she did possibly contempt of court given the dressing down she got in court about her attitude towards Cathy and TG/LGBT in general?
Oh and who mentioned "B*****?" Is someone here impuning blonds? Bless you!
John in Wauwatosa, brother of Evil BlondeTM sister.
John in Wauwatosa
A real fairy tale?
I loved this episode. If only real life always came out right. What is wrong with accepting people as they are and letting them, with intelligent guidance, become the people they are meant to be. I find opposition only makes the target more resolute in their determination to become what they are being pressured not to be. By accepting and not judging, the person gets to explore what is right for them. Then, they are in a better position to make the right choices for themselves.
Over the last few chapters, Simon has shown a real soft spot for the foster kids. I think he enjoys helping the kids and interacting with them as much as Cathy does. What a supportive environment for unique kids to grow up in. I'm jealous that I never found an environment like this.
Thanks for a glimpse into a rational intelligent future.
Hugs,
Trish-Ann
~There is no reality, only perception~
Hugs,
Trish Ann
~There is no reality, only perception~
Social Workers.
Thanks for this chapter Angharad.
Sorry if I'm boring you but this was the particular chapter I read this morning in work and it gives me a chance to vent my spleen or rant on a bit more.
Haven't we all met so called professionals like that bitch?-
-and what you said in the other chapter is also perfectly true. These vermin actually believe they are doing what's best for transgendered or transvestite children by imposing their own hetrosexsist standards upon children who already know what they are and what they want. Of course, as you readily indicate they do more damage than the worth of it, particularly unsympathetic and ignorant doctors and most particularly arrogant, domineering academic overachievers masquerading as psychiatrists.
As a consequence of the prejudices, blundering, and heavy handed psychiatric myopia, I was 25 before I finally recovered my mental stability and eventually reconciled myself to the fact that I was truly heterosexual
Nobody! Not once throughout my whole childhood!!, (6 to 15,) informed me that transvestism had little or nothing to do with sexuality and I consequently grew up with the flawed misconception that because I wanted to cross-dress then I must be gay.
That's right the so called curers actually did more damage than could be imagined.
I still carry the sticker on the back of my car,
'SAVE A CHILD! SACK A SOCIAL WORKER!
Thanks for this brutal posting because it really does dig deep into the prejudice and psychopathy of hetrosexist bigots in the care system..
Thanks deeply,
Beverly.
Please...Pretty please use the words some or several.
or even a lot? ...some of us here...this community...are either currently working in the field or have done social work in the past. Okay? Hugs!
She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Possa Dio riccamente vi benedica, tutto il mio amore, Andrea
Love, Andrea Lena
I'd like to refer you ...
... to my comment on social workers in Bike part 865 (the previous one).
In the UK we've just had a truly shocking case of 2 brothers aged 11 and 12 who very nearly killed 2 slightly younger boys in a sustained sadistic attack. They have been sentenced to an indefinite period of detention. The brothers were brought up in a family which allowed them to do anything from watching hard core horror videos to smoking cannabis; they were running wild and totally lacked any empathy for others.
It was a failure of social services that seems to have allowed this to happen. So presumably what you want is fewer social workers rather than more effective ones. At least then there'd be no-one to blame for such tragedies. This was a failure but how often have social workers got it right and prevented things going so far? Perhaps fortunately those cases don't reach the news media because, if they did, it would mean they were rare, rather than the norm ie 'news' rather than 'olds'.
Social workers aren't perfect and many are not up to the job; that's true. However the same applies in all walks of life - doctors, airline pilots, engineers, shop assistants - but that doesn't mean we need fewer of them. Just that we need to improve their performance.
Robi (who has no axe to grind)
Social Workers
In the past there were probably quite a few Social Workers who were on power trips. I have no experience with the System over in the UK but I do have experience with the System here in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Massachusetts. I have 2 children (both young adults now) who because of my abusive wife entered the System here. Because of my wife's emotional and physical abuse of my son and daughter, DSS (Department of Social Services determined that our home was no longer safe for our children. DSS did not have any problems with my parenting but I was not in a position to care for them by my self if I were to separate from my wife. DSS worked with me to enable my younger sister and her husband to become the guardians of my children. I could visit with them at any time without supervision. However, my wife had to notify DSS at least 24 hours in advance and had to be supervised by DSS whenever she wanted to see them. This was eventually relaxed to where she still had to be supervised but I was the responsible party allowed to supervise. My son is now 22 and a corporal in the United States Marines and my daughter is 20. Both of my children have no desire to see their mother and have not seen her since at least 2002.
Oh, my son thinks that now that he is a Jarhead that that he can take on his dad. He has yet to learn that experience (and not fighting fair, I am a former Army Drill Sgt after all) beats youth. Even though he is a Marine I am still prowd of him. For those who don't understand what I just said here. Just a little friendly inter-service rivalry. This is similar to sibling rivalry.
Social workers
It is a pity there isn't a good way to screen the folks. I am willing to give most of them the benefit of the doubt, much like I would a policeman. I have run into the more obnoxious sort, but even then, she was trying to do a good job as she saw it.
That is all I can ask.
Amy Dorrit knows what a roadkill feels like a second time
Pissah, she struck a police officer ! Along with the additional recording, that should mean a vacancy in the department.
I think Patrol Constable Andy Bell is unhappy with Mrs Doritt.
Julie, you have just passed through the pearly gates into Heaven
Cefin