I want to start off and say I love your stories, truly. However, I have trouble with the scene you write about with the social worker assessing Dawn’s home environment, I myself am a social worker and while I do not work at a school ( or with children) I do know some of DHS’s protocols and the NASW’s Social work Code of Ethics that all social workers need to adhere to or face losing their practicing license. I would like to point out just some of the things that make me hesitate about the social worker and her practices you depict in this chapter.

The main thing that motivates me to write you is that children are only removed from the home after a first visit when they are in immediate danger in the environment whether this be from the house itself (it’s in such bad shape it needs to be condemned) or from the actions (nor neglect) of  the people residing the home... I know the focus for many social workers is to keep families together. I know that in the history of social work this has not always been the case but practices now dictate that we do everything in our power to preserve natural support systems in the client’s life.
 
Yes, I will say that not having food in the house is a bit of a red flag but that is not enough reason to take a child out of a home. In this case the social worker would provide information how to apply for food stamps or where the food banks are in the area for emergency situations and how to get Dawn reduced/free lunch and breakfast at school. The situation would have been monitored though other visits to the house. 

The dirty dishes wouldn’t have even been a blip on the radar, seriously. It’s when there are last week’s dishes piling up so much you wouldn’t be able to prepare any other meals (the smell would be awful too) that this becomes a warning flag that the family might need help but it’s not enough to take a child away from the home.

Next on my list of things to rant about are those “unsavory books” the case worker found. Again, this might have been a problem a few decades back but social workers are supposed to practice personal value suspension when working with a client
(basically that means my values on what is “right and wrong” are thrown out the window, I am not going to be forcing my values onto a client.) In the end it doesnt matter why the books were there, Buffy/Willow could have said that she was a practiceing wiccan and the case worker shouldnt have batted an eyelash becuase its not the workers job to worry about what that kind of thing.

Speaking of offering help for the family; when counseling came up I perceived the workers comment as if she expected Buffy/Willow to have already known that Dawn needed grief counseling (This is just how I read it, I could be totally off !!).  While it needs to be asked if Dawn is getting any counseling, most workers know there are many stigmas for getting any sort of help like counseling so they tend to proceed with caution while asking in order to not make families feel worse (usually if you have a case worker enter your home the situation is bad enough that your probably not thinking many happy thoughts about yourself as is).

Okay, there are a few more things on my list but as I am writing I notice that I am nit-picking at the minor things so I’ll stop for now. I would like to mention that I haven’t read the rest of this story so what I am writing about is just my initial reactions to this chapter and a fully intend to read the rest to find out what happens (I really love your writing style).

And I should note that maybe you wanted the social worker to over react to what was going on in the house, maybe that is the personality of this particular worker to fly over the handle over small things, maybe she is burnt out over having to far many cases for too long to the point she is sloppy and apathetic towards the Summer family.  The point I am trying to make is that I plan on continuing to read and find out.

Love how Buffy was pissed at Willow.  That was the one, on the list of many, reason why Joss' world bugged me.  Buffy never laid fault where fault needed to be. 

There were moments, sprinkled throughout the series, when Xander was actually a half-way decent person.  They were so few and far between that itwas an exercise in futility to find them.  But they did exist.  And it sometimes gave me hope for him.  But Alas, that hope was dashed, time and again.  And I still stand by my opinion about Willow.  She's an idiot.

I'm getting angry just reading this!   Very palpable in your writing.

Good twist.  Hope Spike does something outrageous to get Dawn back.  Not that the little twit doesn't deserve it.  :)

always with the magic, great chapter - tension has been raised, Buffy and Spike on the same page, lets hope he can find a way to help her. But now all I have to worry about is if Willow will do something stupid or not. On to the next chapter now. (btw thanks for the mention you made be blush!)

Really good story so far.

I like the turn of events, didn't see that coming, and the "stupid bitches" comment was oh so spot on! So I'm still reading this avidly, thanks.