Under Their Watch by Charlie Ketchey
It’s always a treat as a reader to find a book that delivers a powerful social message as well as tells a good story, and that’s exactly what we get in Under Their Watch — Charlie Ketchey’s compelling and moving novel about the challenges facing a pair of dedicated child-care workers.
Child-care caseworker Cameron Springer and John Quint, her supervisor, may seem at first to be unlikely heroes for a book, but they quickly endear themselves with their total dedication to the job and their willingness to go to extreme lengths to make sure no child under their watch is ever left in possible danger.
Author Ketchey makes that clear in the opening pages when he describes Cameron Springer’s devastated reaction after losing a case in court involving a 2-year-old boy named Elijah, who was allowed to return to living with his mother even though there were serious anger and potential violence issues she had uncovered about the mother’s boyfriend.
She kept drifting back to the earlier hearing, feeling anxious. She often felt an ill-defined unease about court decisions, even when courts accepted her recommendations. At twenty-five, she had been on the job for three years, and by now she sensed that she had little to no control over the future of the children assigned to her. In the case of Elijah, she was scared for him and his mother, Alisha. Cameron wasn’t a quitter; she knew she’d stick with Elijah and Alisha.
Three Cases. Three Lives. No Easy Decisions.
The story in Under Their Watch focuses on three potentially dangerous — but also confusing and murky in terms of hard facts — child-care cases in the Tampa Bay area being investigated by her and by Quint, along with other Florida government, police and judicial officials.
They involve:
- Elijah and his mother, who seem to have a relatively stable home life, except for the ongoing concerns about the boyfriend, who may or may not be a threat to the 2-year-old boy.
- Sandra, an ex-addict, and her 3-year-old son, David, who was found sitting alone and unattended outside the open door of their apartment house by a neighbor while the mother was nowhere to be found.
- Little Amy Jo, a 3-year-old girl taken to a hospital with a broken shoulder and bruises on her body, which the authorities suspected might have been caused by her mother or her father, or even one of her older brothers on the ranch where they live.
One of the best things about this book is the intense, emotional courtroom scenes Ketchey writes describing the struggles by government officials, judges and lawyers to make difficult decisions about whether to break up fragile families by moving a young child into a safe shelter, or allowing them to remain at home with their families.
A Gripping Yet Heartwarming Story
At some point, Cameron Springer and John Quint must also confront dangers to themselves as well as the children they are responsible for, as they meet up with a number of shady and questionable characters, including a violent assailant who is a scary threat to them as well as to the families involved in the cases.
Oh, and there’s a nice dose of romance too as we learn a lot more about their personal lives and their past — and discover details about Quint’s “mostly concealed” feelings of attraction for Cameron.
Everything about this novel comes across as authentic and realistic and believable, as if it could be happening right now in courtrooms and broken family homes. That’s probably because of the extensive background in this field by the author, Charlie Ketchey. He is a longtime attorney in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota, Florida, who has extensive experience in child dependency cases and has worked with organizations that provide assistance to families and to children at risk of neglect and abuse. This is his first novel.
I’m not sure how much, if any of this, is based on actual events involving child-care cases in the Tampa area, but it sure feels like some of it could be real.
In Under Their Watch, Ketchey has written a gripping — and at times both heartbreaking and heartwarming — story about caring, compassionate people who keep trying to do the right thing in a world that often seems like it’s gone crazy.
About Charlie Ketchey:
CHARLES KETCHEY JR. is a senior member of Trenam Law in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota, Florida. Board-certified by the Florida Bar in civil trial and business litigation, he specializes in corporate and bankruptcy trial and litigation. Over the course of his career, he has gained experience in child dependency cases and worked with organizations that provide assistance to families and especially to children at risk of neglect or abuse. Charlie resides in Tampa Bay with his wife, Brenda, and an extended family that includes a daughter and son and their spouses and children.
