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agreement. The pastor ignored the mother plea for spiritual deliverance. He was not against spiritual deliverance because he spent most of his Christian life serving as a healer. What he was unhappy about was the couple exploiting God in an ignorant way to cover up their blatant child abuse.

  The pastor felt a sense of disengagement from the couple. His feelings of hatred for the couple who had committed the appalling act of abuse hit him in waves. They had lasted for a brief moment but they kept on coming back. He asked himself how a righteous God can love this brutish couple.

  It was only in last Sunday morning service that the whole church sung 'When I needed a neighbour where you there'. His heart sunk on reciting those words. He made a vow to God in his mind from now on he will love his neighbours and improve the lives of the poor. He would organise his time to accommodate visits to the poorer parts of Lower Ashworth irrespective of the dangers. The great commission begins there.

  Sally was rocking forward and backwards in the car weeping and crying like a bereaved mom longing for a lost child whilst her partner watched her silently without displaying any hint of emotions. The pastor wife kept her focus on driving the car safely, avoiding any accidents on the way to the hospital. The pastor knew deep down inside within his heart that the baby was dead and going to the hospital was far too late. He thought driving the baby to the hospital was the right thing to do and the authorities would have to be notified of this tragic fatality.

  On arrival to the accident and emergency ward they met the paramedics who rushed the baby into theatre, bypassing the long queue of patients. Everyone in the A and E knew this was an emergence, especially when a large number of doctors were on site.

  The paramedics were perturbed by the injuries to the baby. Their facial expression showed signs of tiredness. They were feeling rather pessimistic. The exhausted and battled weary surgeon and her medical team tried desperately in vain to resuscitate the baby. They were unable to revive the baby's heart. The baby's heart stopped beating during the operation. The baby was dead. The surgeon wiped away speckles of perspirations off her brow. She pushed open the theatre doors and made her way to the mother in the waiting area. The sombre face of the surgeon told its own story without words. What on earth possess this couple to commit such horrific acts of violence against this innocence baby? The mother cried out hysterically with a loud voice. There was no one to comfort her. Rupert sat there quietly alone shaking his legs anxiously. It was only a matter of time before the police arrived on the scene arresting Rupert and Sally. Pastor Nelson and his wife, Bev volunteered to accompany the police to the station to assist them with their questioning of the couple.

  Six

  The time was approximately 7.00 am when Naomi began to cry as she read her emails at the Council's offices. There was one particular email in the inbox tray which particularly disturbed her. The email was horrific. It made her feel depressed. It was her worst nightmares come true. This can't be real she kept on telling herself. She must be daydreaming. How could this ever happen to her. Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? She was stitched up good and proper by the management team.

  The case files were handed over to her only a few days ago by her line manager, Derek James. No one in the team wanted to manage this case. They all moaned to the management team about carrying heavy caseloads and they complained bitterly about being overstressed and overworked. They were far too happy to hand over this complex case to the newly recruited worker, Naomi. And she was so keen to please the team manager in her first job as a social worker since qualifying from university that she failed to spot the enormity of the case.

  Naomi was far too naïve and inexperienced to turn down the case. She thought she was supporting the senior management team and helping out the organization by taking on this case. No one had told her that the organisation cared about themselves rather the individual. The culture of the organisation encouraged more for less. There was a shortest in the supply of social workers and existing staff protected themselves by not volunteering for new cases because every social worker in the department thought the organization wanted them to work too many hours with fewer resources. Staff didn't feel valued enough to work a 50 hours shift. This would only lead to burnout.

  She looked more intensely at the email sent to her from Sangeeta Walker, the out of hour's duty social worker. Sangeeta worked outside of the normal office hours of nine to five. The email delivered by Sandra was a devastating blow to Naomi. It shattered the very essence of Naomi emotional wellbeing and mental health. The email conveyed the tragic death of baby known as Baby G under Naomi supervision. There was no hiding place for Naomi to flee. She was now exposed publicly which hurt her tremendously.

  Becoming overwhelmingly distracted by the email, Naomi slumped backward into her chair knocking over a glass of water. The water spilled on to the note pad. Most of the staff in the office were far too busy getting on with their day to day jobs to have noted Naomi's distress except for Jan Edwards.

  Jan was different from her team mates. She didn't quite fit into the stereotype of some social workers who lived in their perfect worlds where family life is trouble free and parents are stress free. And parents don't lose their cool when their children behave violently towards them nor do they react to family pressures. For Jan, the harmonious family image depicted by a few social workers was atypical. And there were times when tempers would flare up most days. The power dynamics within the family have shifted to the children. Parents have lost control of their children. Jan thought some social workers have lost touch with real family lives.

  Jan read her bible during lunch breaks and refused to gossip about other colleagues and service users. Christianity in social services was frowned upon by the bosses and Jan was sometime called a religious freak by Gilbert. Gilbert was a middle aged English man, who was married to Sangeeta Walker, the sender of the email which changed the destiny of Naomi's future.

  Gilbert disliked Jan because she refused to swear in the office. Jan was a strongly independent minded woman who would not hesitate to confront the bullish behaviour of Gilbert or anyone else in the office. She was uninfluenced by Gilbert's misdemeanours and she was someone who was not easily led by the crowd. Naomi trusted Jan to be impartial. Jan wasn't taking sides and she was a loner in the office. Everyone in the office ignored Jan except for Naomi. Naomi was desperately in need of some support from Jan. Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked across the desk to Jan who worked on the opposite side to her. Jan saw how sad and red eyed Naomi was and hugged her. Naomi was inconsolable. The image of Hannah pleading to God for a child comes to mind.

  "Don't you worry love? It will be alright, you wait and see," said Jan.

  "You don't know what you're talking about, Jan. I have made some terrible mistakes."

  "What do you mean you've made some mistakes? What mistakes have you made, Naomi?"

  "Well, why don't you read the email sent to me from Gilbert's missus?"

  "Have Sangeeta emailed you?"

  "Yes, Jan."

  "What's so shocking about the email?"

  Seven

  Naomi opened the email for Jan to read. The email stated:

  "Baby George died on arrival at the Carver Washington Hospital on 12th February 2007, aged 9 months old. His death was caused by 15 separate injuries resulting from a sharp instrument marking his arms, legs and abdomen and there were burns to his head. The post mortem report revealed he was viciously beaten and tortured by his mother and her boyfriend over a number of months. The couple is currently being detained in custody waiting questioning from the police."

  "Jesus, my God," cried Jan.

  Jan was in shock. The tragic death of the baby greatly disturbed her. There was a brief moment of silent with Naomi holding her head down. The silent broke when Jan had finished reading the email.

  "It's so sad, poor baby."

  "How can I ever live with myself, Jan? I've allowed the baby to die on my watch. "

&n
bsp; "Don't you jump to conclusion, Naomi? It will be investigated. That's for sure."

  "It is obvious that I will take the blame for the baby's death."

  "No one will know the outcome of the death before it is fully investigated."

  "We all know what the outcome will be, Jan."

  "We don't, Naomi."

  "They will blame the black woman."

  "They can't discriminate against you, Naomi."

  "The equality laws can't change racist attitudes."

  "Be positive, Naomi."

  "The odds are against me, Jan. The mountain before me is far too high to overcome. "

  "God can still change the odds in your favour and He can still move mountains. Just put your trust in him."

  "I know with God all things are possible, but it doesn't change the fact that I have failed to protect Baby George and I didn't recognise the signs of abuse," sobbed Naomi.

  "Have faith in God, Naomi."

  "I feel utterly useless, Jan."

  "Pull yourself together, Naomi. You need to be strong to overcome these problems."

  "I'm doomed. My career as a social worker is over."

  "It is certainly not. There you go again jumping to the wrong conclusions, Naomi."

  "Why shouldn't I?"

  "You cannot foresee the results of the investigation."

  "I'm finished. It's all over. Face it, Jan."

  "No, it's not over yet, Naomi.