Magic Hour: A Novel

Child welfare is a social service that addresses abuse, mental illness, and food insecurity in a child’s life. Child welfare intercedes on behalf of children who still live with their parents as well as children who have lost or experienced separation from their parents. In Magic Hour, the Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) handles Alice’s case.

In cases dealing with mental health or severe trauma, child welfare and social services oftentimes enlist a psychiatrist to help the child. However, due to the extreme effects of trauma and other facets of mental health, psychiatrists and therapists often struggle to help the children. Environment can often have huge impacts on children’s mental health, especially during early developmental years. Additionally, child welfare services can further traumatize children by separating families—while a child’s parents might not be capable of caring for them, placing a child in foster care or changing their guardian can affect them negatively. This is shown in Magic Hour when George regains custody of Alice and she feels abandoned by Julia.

In Alice’s case, the trauma of abduction followed by her survival in the woods after her mother dies causes her to exhibit behaviors associated with so-called feral children. Throughout history, this term has referred to children who survive on their own without human or social contact. Since they do not know how to socialize, they have difficulty communicating and often lash out physically or behave in ways that are considered animalistic. These children have been the subject of legends throughout history, and folklore sometimes describes them as supernatural beings who can communicate with animals or with nature. However, these children exhibit behaviors that are the result of severe abuse and trauma. Although most experts contest that feral children are fictitious, several cases in the 19th and 20th centuries reflect instances of children surviving in the wild on their own.