Perfect for fans of Cathy Glass and Casey Watson.Foster carer Maggie Hartley is used to all manner of children arriving on her doorstep, but nothing can prepare her for sisters Billy and Bo when they arrive at her home. It is clear from the moment she sets eyes on them four-year-old Bo and seven-year-old Billy have clearly been subjected to unimaginable neglect, and it takes all of Maggie's skills as a foster carer to try to connect with the volatile little girls, who seem far younger than their years. Over time, the little girls slowly emerge from their shells, and Maggie begins the difficult task of trying to gain their trust. But as time goes on, it becomes clear that there is something much darker going on, something that will call into question everything Maggie has ever learned in all her years as a foster carer...

    Even more worrying, she will be brought to Cathy with a police escort as it’s vital her extended family don’t know where she is.Abandoned at birth, Cathy and her family quickly bond with little Darcy-May although they have to accept she will eventually leave them to be adopted. But fostering is rarely straight forward, and when Haylea asks to see her baby a different story begins to emerge. It’s so alarming that even Cathy, a highly experienced foster carer, struggles.

    A moving collection of 6 short stories – Helpless, A Small Boy’s Cry, Two More Sleeps, Unexpected, Just a Boy and At Risk – previously available as individual e-shorts.A collection of inspiring and emotive real-life short stories from foster carers Casey Watson and Rosie Lewis.Sarah, a baby born to a crack-addicted mother on a freezing cold night in December.Charlie, who fell from the second-floor window of his tower block home while his mother is busy shooting up in their dirty council flat.Angell, left barely clothed beneath a park bench on a freezing cold day in winter.Hope, abandoned as a new-born by a young woman traumatised by a dark secret.Cameron, a sweet boy with a great sense of humour, who disappears after a disastrous and embarrassing family trip.Adam, a fragile and anxious child, whose relationship with his mother starts to unravel.

    Until one day things go from bad to worse.Walking home from school, Scarlett is befriended by a young man called Ed, who tells her that a friend of his is keen to meet her. Scarlett eventually agrees, and Ed takes her to his house.But there is no friend waiting for them.As her life is torn apart by a vicious grooming gang, Scarlett begins to believe this is just how her world should be. In her darkest hour, will she find the courage to confront her abusers and seek justice?This is the heart-breaking story of a destroyed childhood and how our past must not shape our future.

    While the 14-year-old mother was tracked down, Jeanie took her little daughter into her own care. But while she tried to help the two of them heal and bond, the terrible truth about the baby's father was revealed...A twist on the standard Cathy Glass books, Wicked Girl offers Jeanie's rare perspective of fostering young women alongside their babies. Will mother and daughter be reunited for good, or will the vulnerable young mother make the heartbreaking decision that they are both better off apart?

    Her abuse, more so than any other, destroyed me. It was the ultimate betrayal.’Abused from the age of eight by her older brother and then her step-father, Maureen Wood quickly became numb to the constant suffering. But Maureen’s world crumbled when her own mother started to abuse her too…A Family Secret is the harrowing true story of how one little girl survived sickening abuse by the people who should have loved her most, and how an innocent baby finally saved her.

    ‘I know this is probably the worst time I could ring you, but we desperately need someone to take a child tonight.’It’s the night before Christmas when Casey and Mike get the call. A twelve year old girl, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Her father is on a ventilator, fighting for his life, while her mother is currently on remand in prison. Despite claiming she attacked him in self-defence, she’s been charged with his attempted murder.The girl is called Bella, and she’s refusing to say anything. The trouble is that she is also the only witness…

    It is a compelling and inspirational story. This book gives a voice to the many children who grew up unhappily in care.

    Their mother walked out on them. (They don't remember her.) Their grandmother tried, but couldn't manage them. And now their young father has given up on them too. These cast-off kids desperately need somewhere to live and a family to love them. They've come to the right place. Trisha and Mike welcome them into their home and their hearts. There are now ten children under five in this household, where every day is filled with cuddles, fun . . . and more than a few challenges. After ten eventful years of love and laughter, they are reclaimed by their jealous mother, a stranger, who sets fire to their memories and sends them to a succession of care homes. Finally the younger one sets out on a quest to find the only two people who have ever loved him.

    She slipped through the net and only just survived. Her childhood was a place of filth and terror. Her prostitute mother abused and neglected Collette; leaving her with clients, starving her and beating her to a pulp.But the worst thing was that the people who were supposed to protect Collette turned a blind eye. This is the story of a little girl who waited years for justice. It's the story of a woman determined to protect other children from suffering her fate.Collette Elliott is a 35-year-old mother of four. She was born in Birmingham to Maureen Batchelor, a prostitute, and suffered years of physical and mental abuse. In April 2013, Birmingham City Council awarded her £20,000 in damages for the anguish she suffered and their failure to protect her. Collette is now happily married, a devoted mother to her girls, and is campaigning on behalf of other child abuse victims.

    Evie much later on also became a survivor of Domestic Violence, as a young wife and mother. ​ Melvin, a family friend, and sexual predator carved a path for himself using Evie’s young innocence, by showing her kindness in a place of loneliness. Evie had no one to turn to, her mother an alcoholic, and her step-father a cruel, and vicious man. Evie through the years was placed in several different foster homes; Evie ran away from them all, even living on the cold streets of London at eleven years old. A homeless traveller took Evie under their wing, kept her safe, and eventually helped to guide her home.  All she had to cling to in the end was her biological father, also an alcoholic, her Nan, and her great love of horses. ​ Evie would later marry Andrew, yet another man in her life who deceived her in every heartbreaking way imaginable. Andrew viciously beat Evie many times over during a six-year period, and he had numerous affairs with prostitutes, as well as affairs with other women whom she knew. Evie had nowhere to run to, that Andrew would not find her, and bring her back. She felt broken in mind, body, and spirit, with no one to protect her. Evie sometimes felt like giving up her very existence, though it was her deep bond, and love for her children that she found the strength to keep on going. ​ Evie’s great fondness for books eventually led her to find spirituality, which gave her calm and peaceful moments, and through spirituality she met two amazing women, and with their help she found the strength to take back her life, and then she met Steve. Steve gave Evie a love story, which she would never, ever forget. ​ Evie wanted to keep her readers in mind, and so her re- account of her childhood memories of being sexually abused is written in such a way, as to not to be too upsetting, and so she decided to write about it very softly, and only touching on this subject very briefly. Her story may appear very harrowing, though it has it does have it’s up’s and down’s, as well it's funny and sad moments. Evie does however eventually experience a beautiful love, and she does have her happy ever after, by walking a broken road…home.

    In the early 1970s, Rex and his brother Kevin were believed to be the last orphans to be transported to Australia under the Child Migrants Programme, which began in the 1930s and was thought to have ended by 1967. With a promise of a better life and a brighter future, the two innocent boys were sent to the other side of the globe, unaware of what this cruel world held in store for them.  But they would soon find out...  For the first time ever Rex, the survivor, will tell his story of childhood innocence, unforgivable abuse at the hands of the people who were meant to care for him, and his long journey back to England to seek the truth of what really happened to his mother, and why he was sent away in the first place.

    He also saw their amazing ability to survive those unpromising beginnings. In this book, he tells four heartbreaking true stories of damaged children and of his battle to help them.

    It’s shocking to imply that I stopped loving my mum because mothers always love their children and always do their best for them. Mothers are supposed to be good. But my mother wasn’t good.Ten years ago, Helen Naylor discovered her mother, Elinor, had been faking debilitating illnesses for thirty years. After Elinor’s self-induced death, Helen found her diaries, which Elinor wrote daily for over fifty years. The diaries reveal not only the inner workings of Elinor’s twisted mind and self-delusion, but also shocking revelations about Helen’s childhood. Everything Helen knew about herself and her upbringing was founded on a lie. The unexplained accidents and days spent entirely on her own as a little girl, imagining herself climbing into the loft and disappearing into a different world, tell a story of neglect. As a teenager, her mother’s advice to Helen on her body and mental health speaks of dangerous manipulation. With Elinor’s behaviour becoming increasingly destructive, and Helen now herself a mother, she was left with a stark choice: to collude with Elinor’s lies or be accused of abandoning her. My Mother, Munchausen’s and Me is a heart-breaking, honest and brave account of a daughter unravelling the truth about her mother and herself. It’s a story of a stolen childhood, mental illness, and the redemptive power of breaking a complex and toxic bond.

    But when she was just 11 years old, her older brother began to sexually abuse her. After four years, Carol managed to escape – and ran away from home.Picked up by social services they place her at Aston Hall in Derby; a psychiatric hospital now infamous for the ghoulish ‘truth serum’ experiments it carried out on children. Over three years, Carol was stripped, sedated, assaulted and raped by Kenneth Milner, the doctor in charge.Eventually she is released back into the community, aged 18, and has a daughter. But the baby is taken away for adoption and Carol’s trauma intensifies.In 2010 Carol finally plucked up the courage to speak out about the abuse she suffered – and received justice, at last.In The Asylum Carol tells the full story of how she overcame unimaginable suffering, to find the happiness and solace she has today as a mother and grandmother.