Delores Verney is the social worker who takes on Jadie's case. By the time she has arrived at the school, Delores has already contacted to police. She does not want the police in Pecking to work the case; she would rather have a female officer come from Falls River to work with Jadie. Like Torey, Delores seems convinced that there has been some sort of abuse going on in Jadie's life. At the end of the book, it is Delores who collects Jadie and her sisters' belongings from their home. She comes with Mr. Tinbergen to Torey's classroom to take Jadie to her new foster home.