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Known to Social Services
Winner of the non-fiction section of the 2015 London Book Festival AND awarded an Honorable Mention in the non-fiction section of the 2016 Paris Book Festival.
Written from life experience and ringing with authenticity, Known to Social Services follows Diane Foster, a dedicated social worker, into the grim, grey world of the Deacon Hill estate in Millbrook and the tormented lives of its inhabitants. Domestic violence, child abuse, serial paedophiles and ex-convicts proliferate in the daily lives of most of the children, but Diane enters deeply into this world of misery to help the victims and keep together the fragile structure of society. Hampered by an administration inhabited by paper-shuffling and uninvolved, uncaring bureaucrats, Diane fights unremittingly to protect the children of Deacon Hill from rape, horror, random violence, female genital mutilation and murder, within the context of a horrifying barrenness and desolate existential reality.
Written from life experience and ringing with authenticity, Known to Social Services follows Diane Foster, a dedicated social worker, into the grim, grey world of the Deacon Hill estate in Millbrook and the tormented lives of its inhabitants. Domestic violence, child abuse, serial paedophiles and ex-convicts proliferate in the daily lives of most of the children, but Diane enters deeply into this world of misery to help the victims and keep together the fragile structure of society. Hampered by an administration inhabited by paper-shuffling and uninvolved, uncaring bureaucrats, Diane fights unremittingly to protect the children of Deacon Hill from rape, horror, random violence, female genital mutilation and murder, within the context of a horrifying barrenness and desolate existential reality.
- GenresNonfictionSocial Work
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
8 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Freya Barrington
4 books15 followersFreya Barrington is the pen name of a senior child protection social worker in England, who worked for local authorities that required experienced social workers to offer support when there were staff shortages. She holds a Diploma in Social Work from the University of Derby with an award for excellence in practice, and is a registered member in good standing with the Health & Care Professions Council (UK).
Freya's debut work "Known to Social Services" was based on her own experiences as a front line social worker. The book has been the number one bestselling social work book on Amazon UK several times. "Known To Social Services" went on to WIN the autobiography/memoir section of the 2015 London Book Festival and won an Honorable Mention at the 2016 Paris Book Festival in the General Non-Fiction Section.
Freya's second book, "Gozo Is the Grass Greener?" is an autobiographical account of her and her husband's move from the UK to the Mediterranean Maltese island of Gozo. With laugh out loud and tear jerking anecdotes in equal measure, "Gozo Is The Grass Greener?" received an honorable mention in the autobiography/biography section at the 2015 London Book Festival and WON the autobiography/biography section at the 2016 Paris Book Festival.
Freya's latest novel, titled Caught in Traffick is the sequel to her first book, Known to Social Services. It is set in the harrowing world of child trafficking in Thailand. Caught in Traffick was awarded an Honorable Mention in the General Fiction Section of the 2016 London Book Festival.
Freya currently lives in France, but travels often to undertake book signings and to give talks in regard to her books. In March 2015 Freya visited the UK and spoke to social work students at several Universities in regard to her experiences as a social worker and gave an account of her motivation in writing "Known to Social Services". In October 2015, Freya returned to Malta and Gozo after being invited to give talks to the students at the University there and to other interested organisations. While in Malta, Freya was interviewed by the Maltese Newspaper The Times of Malta.
Freya continues to write three blogs, one in regard to the life she had in Gozo, one with more serious content relating to social work and one about her new life in Brittany.
Freya has been a contributor to the UK's Guardian Newspaper Social Care blog, and has appeared in features in several media including social work's Community Care Magazine.
Freya has also guested on radio stations in the UK and Malta.
Freya has been with her musician husband Steve for ten years; in her spare time, (when she has any) Freya enjoys horse riding, walking, bird watching, reading, cooking, drinking good coffee and spending time with friends and family.
Freya recently adopted a Griffon Bleu De Gascogne dog from the refuge in Brittany where she lived. Called Merlin, Freya penned a short story about his rescue titled, Merlin The Hound Dog; Part One In From The Cold.
Freya is indebted to Faraxa Publishing who have offered so much support in her career as a writer.
Please visit Freya's website and blogs at www.freyabarrington.com for more details on this exciting new author.
Freya's debut work "Known to Social Services" was based on her own experiences as a front line social worker. The book has been the number one bestselling social work book on Amazon UK several times. "Known To Social Services" went on to WIN the autobiography/memoir section of the 2015 London Book Festival and won an Honorable Mention at the 2016 Paris Book Festival in the General Non-Fiction Section.
Freya's second book, "Gozo Is the Grass Greener?" is an autobiographical account of her and her husband's move from the UK to the Mediterranean Maltese island of Gozo. With laugh out loud and tear jerking anecdotes in equal measure, "Gozo Is The Grass Greener?" received an honorable mention in the autobiography/biography section at the 2015 London Book Festival and WON the autobiography/biography section at the 2016 Paris Book Festival.
Freya's latest novel, titled Caught in Traffick is the sequel to her first book, Known to Social Services. It is set in the harrowing world of child trafficking in Thailand. Caught in Traffick was awarded an Honorable Mention in the General Fiction Section of the 2016 London Book Festival.
Freya currently lives in France, but travels often to undertake book signings and to give talks in regard to her books. In March 2015 Freya visited the UK and spoke to social work students at several Universities in regard to her experiences as a social worker and gave an account of her motivation in writing "Known to Social Services". In October 2015, Freya returned to Malta and Gozo after being invited to give talks to the students at the University there and to other interested organisations. While in Malta, Freya was interviewed by the Maltese Newspaper The Times of Malta.
Freya continues to write three blogs, one in regard to the life she had in Gozo, one with more serious content relating to social work and one about her new life in Brittany.
Freya has been a contributor to the UK's Guardian Newspaper Social Care blog, and has appeared in features in several media including social work's Community Care Magazine.
Freya has also guested on radio stations in the UK and Malta.
Freya has been with her musician husband Steve for ten years; in her spare time, (when she has any) Freya enjoys horse riding, walking, bird watching, reading, cooking, drinking good coffee and spending time with friends and family.
Freya recently adopted a Griffon Bleu De Gascogne dog from the refuge in Brittany where she lived. Called Merlin, Freya penned a short story about his rescue titled, Merlin The Hound Dog; Part One In From The Cold.
Freya is indebted to Faraxa Publishing who have offered so much support in her career as a writer.
Please visit Freya's website and blogs at www.freyabarrington.com for more details on this exciting new author.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 12, 2015
Freya Barrington has written a dark and gritty novel that captivated me from page one. This story delves into the life of a young social worker whose love and compassion for her young clients literally brings her to the point of self destruction.
Before I picked up the book I read the author's biography and realized that she wasn't just making up case studies to create her novel, but actually has lived them, making the reader that much invested in her book.
These horrific things actually happen, and happen every day. We all know about the horrors of child abuse and sexual abuse of the innocent, because the news reports on them at least three of four times a year. But Ms. Barrington tells us what it's like to be on the front lines every day. What it is like to see the depraved destroy lives and how one young woman and her co workers and associates have to deal with it on a daily with it rarely turning out with the Cinderella happy ending.
Kudos to this author for not just keeping me captivated, but opening my eyes to the horrors of what our civil servants and selfless social workers must endure during their careers.
A beautifully done novel that does more than keeps this reader interested, but actually opened my eyes.
Five stars.
Before I picked up the book I read the author's biography and realized that she wasn't just making up case studies to create her novel, but actually has lived them, making the reader that much invested in her book.
These horrific things actually happen, and happen every day. We all know about the horrors of child abuse and sexual abuse of the innocent, because the news reports on them at least three of four times a year. But Ms. Barrington tells us what it's like to be on the front lines every day. What it is like to see the depraved destroy lives and how one young woman and her co workers and associates have to deal with it on a daily with it rarely turning out with the Cinderella happy ending.
Kudos to this author for not just keeping me captivated, but opening my eyes to the horrors of what our civil servants and selfless social workers must endure during their careers.
A beautifully done novel that does more than keeps this reader interested, but actually opened my eyes.
Five stars.
April 28, 2015
Wow, I was completely hooked as I read this book. I can't imagine how hard the job of a social worker must be. As a soon to be mom, it was hard to read about how some people could treat their own children and there were many tearful moments for me. I think Freya did an amazing job of letting us into the devastating world of child protection, and as much as I cried, I'm looking forward to the sequel.
July 18, 2015
This book was one of the best I've read in a long time. Extremely well written and I'm so looking forward to reading the next one. Anyone who is a social worker or works with children should read this book. It's a FANTASTIC read!!!!
June 18, 2025
If you want to know about the ugliest side of the UK, you could either study to become a social worker, go to Warrington (don't, it's a shithole) or read this book.
Reading this book felt exactly like reading child protection reports when me and my wife were adopting. The book is a bit more long winded but that's about it. Overall it did a pretty good job at painting a picture of the type of scum that likes to commit crimes against children. I rooted for a couple of the mums who genuinely did their best but a lot of the parents are just lying, slimy pieces of shit. The amount of times I just wanted to punch the characters was unreal. I did like how they would accuse other families of stuff when social workers came around in order to deflect blame; most of it was rubbish, but there was always a grain of truth to their accusations, just something that made you go "hm..."
I also liked the detail about the devout muslims (who wanted to send one of their daughters abroad to mutilate her genitals) hiring a muslim lawyer and both trying to disrespect UK law by fooling the judge. That's exactly how the ultra religious types are. They don't respect the laws of the country, they have their networks to try to skip them and that's it.
I couldn't have cared less about Diane's romance with Ethan. Very boring and not essential to the story. I also found the church going family with the three daughters pretty boring; I am reading about social services and crimes against children and out of nowhere here comes this family out of a condensed milk commercial written by chatGPT. They were so corny. Omg such a beautiful and happy family who are always smiling and never have a bad moment, wouldn't it be so sad if one of their daughters fell prey to a pedophile? Yes, but also why were they written like that? The whole thing + the pedo revenge was written so cheesy and it felt like a fantasy of the author more than something that would realistically happen. I'll tell you what would have been more likely to happen: the pedo preys on the girl of a very rough family and gets beaten up by one of her druggie uncles after a bar crawl.
See, that's what I don't like about UK/USAmerican authors. They seem to love these type of unrealistically corny characters but I just find them boring. You either give them a bit of nuance (like, say, Jodie) or you don't subject me to asinine details like their ice cream eating habits. If this novel was written by a Spaniard, it would have been way less corny in some aspects.
The twist at the end was so good though.
Reading this book felt exactly like reading child protection reports when me and my wife were adopting. The book is a bit more long winded but that's about it. Overall it did a pretty good job at painting a picture of the type of scum that likes to commit crimes against children. I rooted for a couple of the mums who genuinely did their best but a lot of the parents are just lying, slimy pieces of shit. The amount of times I just wanted to punch the characters was unreal. I did like how they would accuse other families of stuff when social workers came around in order to deflect blame; most of it was rubbish, but there was always a grain of truth to their accusations, just something that made you go "hm..."
I also liked the detail about the devout muslims (who wanted to send one of their daughters abroad to mutilate her genitals) hiring a muslim lawyer and both trying to disrespect UK law by fooling the judge. That's exactly how the ultra religious types are. They don't respect the laws of the country, they have their networks to try to skip them and that's it.
I couldn't have cared less about Diane's romance with Ethan. Very boring and not essential to the story. I also found the church going family with the three daughters pretty boring; I am reading about social services and crimes against children and out of nowhere here comes this family out of a condensed milk commercial written by chatGPT. They were so corny. Omg such a beautiful and happy family who are always smiling and never have a bad moment, wouldn't it be so sad if one of their daughters fell prey to a pedophile? Yes, but also why were they written like that? The whole thing + the pedo revenge was written so cheesy and it felt like a fantasy of the author more than something that would realistically happen. I'll tell you what would have been more likely to happen: the pedo preys on the girl of a very rough family and gets beaten up by one of her druggie uncles after a bar crawl.
See, that's what I don't like about UK/USAmerican authors. They seem to love these type of unrealistically corny characters but I just find them boring. You either give them a bit of nuance (like, say, Jodie) or you don't subject me to asinine details like their ice cream eating habits. If this novel was written by a Spaniard, it would have been way less corny in some aspects.
The twist at the end was so good though.
October 16, 2020
An excellent and gritty novel about social services and child protection. I feel the book gave a real portrale of a social worker and the pressures faced by workloads and compeeting cases. The case loads showed the problems with our system in protecting children from hospitals to the cort, from family members to thouse we trust.
August 20, 2021
Not for the faint of heart. Chilling details into the life of a child services social worker. The procedures are different than US social workers, but ignore that and focus on the inner workings and feelings generated by reading. Definitely feels like being in her shoes.
March 13, 2020
Gripping.
Good read, I felt I could have continued ready many more chapters, a shame it wasn't longer. Well written. Thank you!
Good read, I felt I could have continued ready many more chapters, a shame it wasn't longer. Well written. Thank you!
January 29, 2016
Amazing!! Finished it in a day and a half as I couldn't put it down. So intense, it draws into the world and I left the book actually feeling emotionally drained. Can't wait for second part!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews