Social workers’ jobs often extend beyond the nine-to-five.

So it would be understandable if they wanted a break from anything social work-related outside of working hours.

And yet, a recent Community Care poll, which received 881 votes, found that the majority of practitioners (64%) read social work-related books in their spare time.

Just over one-third (34%) said social work books were what they were into, while 30% said they they would pick up a work-related read depending on the book.

However, 36% said they preferred to switch off after work.

Find your next read

Whether you’re a social work book fan or not, we’ve got you covered.

Team members recently reviewed two books, one recounting a childhood in care and the second a collection of short stories written by a social worker.

The first was ‘Looked After: A Childhood in Care’, the autobiography of care experienced BBC journalist, Ashley John-Baptiste.

Ashley “reflects on his childhood and adolescence as a looked-after child, recounting times of hardship, trauma and confusion with such detail and introspection that you can’t help but be tremendously moved,” wrote Community Care Inform assistant content editor Gillian MacFarlane.

Gillian, a former social worker, called the memoir a must-read for social care practitioners.

Photo: Stephen Anthony Brotherton

The second was ‘Mum and Boy’, a short story collection by social worker Anthony Brotherton that explores the mother-son dynamic and the influence of a mother figure through the perspectives of four teenage boys.

While not about social work, some of the themes may be familiar to practitioners.

“These stories paint a vivid picture of what some youngsters have to deal with when navigating the loss of a parent, sibling rivalry and the insecurities of supporting a grieving parent,” wrote our senior careers editor, Kirsty Ayakwah.

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Mum and Boy by Stephen Anthony Brotherton is a quick but powerful read that explores the mother-son dynamic through the gripping perspectives of four teenage boys.

Stephen, who has been a social worker for nearly 30 years and has an interest in the complexity of human nature, drew me in immediately with the first of these short stories, entitled ‘Afterlife’.

In this short story, we meet Jake, who suffers physical and mental cruelty at the hands of his father and sister. He only finds benevolence from his mother who showers him with love and defends him when no one else will.

But there is a twist to Jake’s story where we find him mysteriously buried in a coffin, teetering between death and life, and it is not immediately unclear what got him there.

These open-ended and philosophical endings feature in subsequent stories, forcing the reader to reflect on the impact that these unbreakable mother-son bonds have on these young boys.

Adultification among book’s themes

The book touches on suicide, mental health and the Oedipus complex and also explores the adultification of youngsters who may feel pressure to grow up quickly to care for a parent.

Twelve-year-old Charlie highlights this in ‘Oedipus Revisited’ when he announces that he has proposed to his mother and she has accepted.

The pair have lived without an adult male figure in their lives for years, and this is played out with Charlie assuming the role of ‘husband’ to his mother. But as the story unfolds, we see the devastating impact this bond has on their relationship.

Although each of the four stories appear unconnected, there are golden threads that tie them all together.

Each boy develops coping strategies to deal with their emotional and physical trauma. These coping mechanisms range from creating fantasies to employing breathing strategies to escape their living nightmares.

It was interesting to see how the women in each of the stories were well-defined, while the fathers and other males in the book were quite one-dimensional – adding to the importance placed on the role of the mother figure.

The author’s story

Stephen explains that in his own life, his bond with his mother evolved after the death of his father.

He said: “My interest in the mum and boy relationship comes from my experience of my dad dying when I was seven years old, leaving me with just my mum. She was 43 and never got over his death. I became her little crutch, giving her strength to get out of bed every morning and face the world.

“What happened in my formative years set life-long psychological templates, determining the way I view and interact with the world, especially in relationships. I know these things now, but it’s taken years of internal searching and counselling for me to reach this level of awareness, and it led to me becoming a social worker. I came through, managed to change, adapt, present myself differently, but the impact never goes away. It always exists inside my head.”

These stories paint a vivid picture of what some youngsters have to deal with when navigating the loss of a parent, sibling rivalry and the insecurities of supporting a grieving parent. Add to that mix, the impact of having to navigate these complexities are that cusp of adolescence when most young people are learning to understand themselves, build friendships and just be accepted.

The storytelling in this book is powerful, engaging and thought-provoking, and is likely to resonate with other practitioners who support children and families.

‘Mum and Boy’ is published by The Book Guild.

What is the book about?

This book is a memoir based on author Ashley John-Baptiste’s childhood experiences growing up in care. Throughout the book, Ashley, who is now a BBC journalist, reflects on his childhood and adolescence as a looked-after child, recounting times of hardship, trauma and confusion with such detail and introspection that you can’t help but be tremendously moved.

The take-home messages

Ashley describes specific encounters with social care professionals, teachers, foster carers and friends, reflecting on how specific words and moments in interactions have forever imprinted in his memory. He demonstrates the power that words – what is said and what is left unsaid – can have on someone throughout life.

He covers complicated topics such as identity, relationships and intergenerational care and the impact that foster care, and recurring placement moves, have on a child. Despite the harshness of his experience in the UK foster care system, the extraordinary resilience he has showcased is inspiring.

A must-read for social care practitioners

Having worked as a social worker, I believe this book will be tremendously helpful for other social care professionals, as it provides insight into the impact our role can have on a child’s life. Ashley’s reflections on past social work interactions demonstrate the need to have hope and motivation for any child in care and to look beyond the ‘professional role’ as one with authority to simply make big decisions.

Rather, he shows us the importance of helping a child find their voice and identity by listening to what they need, and of continuously checking in, as what may appear to be a ‘positive placement’ to professionals may not be reflective of the child’s experiences day-to-day. As social workers, we must try our best to provide opportunities and encouragement for a child in care to find success.

What else should I know?

The book challenges us to reflect on our own childhoods and relationships, and how we have come to relate to others and build trusting, reciprocal relationships. At times the book is quite sad, given the visceral, honest accounts of life in care. However, it is important to understand this side of care, which most of us will never experience, and the importance and impact of key individuals in providing light during periods of darkness.

• Looked After: A Childhood in Care – A memoir by Ashley John-Baptiste ★★★★
• Hodder & Stoughton
• ISBN: 9781399711920
• £14.99

Free Loaves on Fridays, a new anthology containing letters, stories and poems by 100 care experienced children and adults, was launched last week.

The book, edited by Rebekah Pierre, professional officer at the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), features contributions from people aged 13 to 68, from renowned poet and author Lemn Sissay to first-time writers.

“The book holds up a mirror to the system, exposing both the wonderful potential that good, well-funded social work can have, as well as the lifelong consequences when children are let down,” said Pierre, who spent time in care before becoming a social worker.

Speaking at the launch, Pierre said she hoped Free Loaves on Fridays humanised care leavers and challenged “the stigma and stereotypes that still exist”.

“I hope it flips everything on its head to show we don’t have to just be a small voice at the end of a feedback form but we’re capable of the whole narrative,” she added. “I hope it leads people to action.”

‘It brought up a lot of memories’

The book, whose proceeds are going to children’s rights charities Article 39 and The Together Trust, took Pierre two years to put together and edit.

She attributed this in part to how deeply the stories resonated with her own experience in care – so much so that she had to take time off at times to reflect.

“Having lived experience of [care], [the stories] resonated at a deep level and it brought up a lot of memories so the process [of editing] was very slow,” she said.

“It couldn’t be rushed but it was a privilege. My hope is that the next generation will see themselves represented in bookshops, so it’s absolutely worth it.”

Pierre spent ages 16-18 living in an unregulated hostel after her foster placement broke down unexpectedly, right before Christmas.

Years later she decided to read her case files, only to find “pages and pages of cold, very formal language” where her name had been misspelt “over 100 times”.

Pierre later addressed her social worker in an open letter that included extracts of her case notes, criticising the language used. This is now part of Free Loaves on Fridays.

‘Care experienced people telling their stories in their own words’

Kirsty Capes, care experienced author and one of the contributors, said the book gave care leavers the opportunity to do something rare, to “tell their own stories in their own words”.

Capes, whose debut novel, Careless, is the story of a teenage girl in foster care, strongly praised Free Loves on Fridays’ no-rejection policy, which meant that all submissions were accepted, no matter the author’s level of writing experience.

“To have that no rejection policy, and for [care experienced people] to speak truth to their stories in their own words, that’s an incredibly powerful thing,” she added. “It’s even more powerful for people who’ve often had other people speaking for them.

“I hope it’s just the start of a wider conversation that we all need to have about how [care] experienced people are spoken about and how they’re represented.”

Similarly to Pierre, Capes’s entry in the book highlights the shame she felt when reading her notes, where her social worker often labelled her as a “liar”.

Changing language, she said, was a small thing that practitioners could do that would have “a big impact on care experienced people’s self-identity”, she added.

Another contributor, Kasmira Kincaid, highlighted the importance of acknowledging both the pressures social workers were under and the complexity of children in care’s lives.

“I think children in care will often not see the complexity and challenges social workers are confronted with,” she said. “[But] social workers often have the tendency to do the same thing.

“I think it’s important for them to take away that children in care might have different struggles, but they’re no less numerous and not that substantially different. So, I suppose it’s about seeing people as individuals. To see the complexity and avoid seeing people as a simple stereotype.”

A must-read for every social worker

Emma Lewell-Buck, MP for South Shields and a former social worker, described Free Loaves on Fridays as an emotional journey that would make readers “understand the reality of our system and why it absolutely must change”.

“So often, care experienced people are not listened to, their exclusion from policy setting and decision making is ever apparent,” she said. “Often those who have experienced care are spoken about as though they are all one homogenous group. They aren’t. Their diverse experiences are brought to life in this book.”

National director of BASW England Maris Stratulis called the book a “must-read for every social worker”.

“We must hear and learn from the voices of the care experienced community, and influence and change practice and systems for the better.”

Free Loaves on Fridays is published by Unbound and is currently available from Waterstones.com and uk.bookshop.org.