A Heartbreaking Read (Crying In The Dark - Shane Dunphy)

Member Name: wigglylittleworm

Product:	Crying In The Dark - Shane Dunphy
Date:	24/02/08 (432 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes you think

Disadvantages: Not a light read

This book tells the story of children in the child protection system in the Republic of Ireland and is written by Shane Dunphy, a child protection worker. I picked this book up because I had enjoyed similar books in the past, also I thought that social workers have had a lot of bad press and it would be nice to have an insight into the type of job that they do.


The book opens with Shane working with young offenders but as he feels out of his depth here, he takes a job at Dunleavy House. His job is that of an outreach worker for children with special needs who are in severe crisis and are unmanagable by their caregivers. The organisation is in the voluntary sector and is nicknamed last ditch house.

The following chapters describe the kids that Shane is working with. On his caseload are Bobby and Mickey aged six and four who spend much of their time communicating with their recently deceased father; Mina a seventeen year old with Downs Syndrome who keeps running away from her overprotective parents and ten year old twins Francey and Larry who have been so severely abused that they behave in an almost feral way. Shane also bumps into a girl he used to work with called Sylvie who is thirteen. Her future had looked bright when her long lost father had rescued her from foster care but we learn that he regularly abused her, impregnated her and forced her to prostitute herself to support his drinking.

Dunphy certainly does not shy away from taboo subjects in this book. Subjects covered include child prostitution, teenage motherhood, the rights of mentally handicapped individuals regarding sexual relationships and the struggle that many have with this group of people expressing their sexuality and the abuse of children by their mothers. None of these are covered in any real depth however, each could be the topic of a book on their own.

The story of Francie and Larry in particular will draw you in. They were placed in a childrens home after an insurance salesman calling at the house discovered the children naked, beaten and locked in a shed. They had been starved and had learned to catch and eat birds by watching and copying a cat. We later learn that their mother killed and cooked the cat and made the children eat it. The children are almost feral, communicating in a strange language, climbing and crawling on all fours and unable to form bonds with other humans. Shane uses techniques such as play therapy, reading fairy tales and taking them back to their old house to help them overcome their trauma.

I was disturbed by an incident Shane described in the book. When he learns that 13 year old Sylvie is being abused and prostitued by her father he does not report his findings to the police but decides to confront the father in a pub and beat him up. Instead of easing Sylvies suffering, all this does is cause her father to beat her. I think we can all understand the feelings of hatred and anger towards an individual who behaves in such a manner but we would expect better from a professional.

It is obvious to me that Dunphy has a bit of a hero complex. He describes numerous physical fights in the book. Everybody else who is involved with his children are portrayed as inept. In some cases, he is probably right but it is clear that he believes that he is the only one who can work his magic to save these children and any contribution from anyone else is ignored.


The book takes you on a real emotional journey, you feel sadness for the children, anger at the people who abuse and exploit them and are really rooting for the kids to do ok in the end. Dunphy has deliberately chosen cases which are more unusual to write about in this book to teach us about the resiliance of childrens spirits.

This book is currently in the bestseller list. I bought it last week from ASDA for £3.99, it is currently selling for £5.44 on Amazon.

Summary: This book takes you on an emotional rollercoaster