Her five older siblings were taken into care many years ago. So no one can understand why she was left at home to suffer for so long. It seems Aimee was forgotten.The social services are looking for a very experienced foster carer to look after Aimee and, when she reads the referral, Cathy understands why. Despite her reservations, Cathy agrees to Aimee on – there is something about her that reminds Cathy of Jodie (the subject of ‘Damaged’ and the most disturbed child Cathy has cared for), and reading the report instantly tugs at her heart strings.When she arrives, Aimee is angry. And she has every right to be. She has spent the first eight years of her life living with her drug-dependent mother in a flat that the social worker described as ‘not fit for human habitation’. Aimee is so grateful as she snuggles into her bed at Cathy’s house on the first night that it brings Cathy to tears.Aimee’s aggressive mother is constantly causing trouble at contact, and makes sweeping allegations against Cathy and her family in front of her daughter as well. It is a trying time for Cathy, and it makes it difficult for Aimee to settle. But as Aimee begins to trust Cathy, she starts to open up. And the more Cathy learns about Aimee’s life before she came into care, the more horrified she becomes.It’s clear that Aimee should have been rescued much sooner and as her journey seems to be coming to a happy end, Cathy can’t help but reflect on all the other ‘forgotten children’ that are still suffering…

    

    Susan's biological mom died at an early age. Her dad married again and the step-mom seemed nice at first. Everyone was happy. The kids were happy that they had a new mom and the dad was happy. Little did the dad know, when he was away, the step-mom would torture their kids mercilessly. From force feeding vomit to her children, to violently beating them (sometimes to the point of near death), and verbally assaulting them, the step-mom made her kids go through hell. The abuse did not stop at childhood either, and thats what makes this book different than most other abuse stories. Susan also endured countless acts of sexual abuse and rape, under the hands of one of her closest relatives. This is a story terrifying severe child. Told from the point of view of a young girl, this story will captivate you from start to finish. Buy the story now and find out the true story of Susan Horton, never before released to the public.

    Find out how her parents met and the circumstances of her birth and early life. This promises to be a tear jerking read.

    She's determined to do something positive with her life, and she doesn't want to use her body to get what she wants. On the road to attaining her goals, the young, strong-willed butterfly has overcame every obstacle that was placed in her path, except one, her abusive mother, DOT. Dot would've been better off had she been born infertile. The way she treats her daughter is nothing short of trifling. Kaymee's will is unbreakable. With the help of her two best friends, POETRY and MONTY, she leaves her mother's home ready to take on the world, but the world can be a bitter, cold place. In the midst of madness, DRAY appears like a the fairy-tale lover Kaymee has always needed to help heal her wounds. Can Dray do the impossible and show her that LOVE SHOULDN'T HURT? Or is Kaymee too damaged to repair? One thing's for certain, Dot stops at nothing to see Kaymee down and out, and dragged through the mud. Ultimately, who will have the last laugh, mother or daughter?

    He is standing right here in front of me. This could be the start of something special. It should be the start of something special. Only life isn’t always that simple, is it? With Aidan back in Cheshire and work on Blossom View well under way, it would appear that things are finally falling into place for Sadie Valentine. Her career with the charity is keeping her busy, Aldo is enjoying being off the market and her relationship with her mother is starting to heal, but it’s not long before the cracks start to show. Not wanting to succumb to the anxiety that is slowly casting a shadow over her newly-found happiness, Sadie attempts to press on with her life regardless. As Sadie tries to paper over the cracks, blasts from the past return to tip her world upside down in ways she could never have imagined. With her limits being tested once again, can Sadie use her experience and strength to break free from her anxiety once and for all? They say that the past should stay buried, but what if some ghosts simply refuse to lie low? Slip into Sadie’s world as she tries to adjust to a potentially life-changing discovery and change the perception of mental health forever. The other books in the ANXIETY GIRL series are available worldwide from Amazon. Praise for the ANXIETY GIRL series – “An excellent book combining a very meaningful story with a significant, yet sympathetic, account of mental health challenges faced by many in the modern world.” “This book allowed the reader to understand how much mental health can affect anyone at any time, no matter who you are or where you come from.” “Just reading this book has helped immensely with my anxiety and given me ideas on coping strategies.” “I am a sufferer of anxiety and depression and could relate throughout the whole book.” “This is a powerful story that anyone who has suffered from anxiety can relate to.” “Anxiety Girl has inspired me to learn more about anxiety. Brilliant book that everyone with or without the condition should read.”

    The social workers would pull up with a kid. Aunt Clara and Uncle Dan would greet them in the driveway, all smiles and handshakes. Before the road dust had settled from the departing worker's car, the kid would be given the low-down on living here.The low-down was what everyone called the rules. Don’t speak unless spoken to. Do what you are told, when you are told. Never touch the telephone. “The sooner you fall into line, the better off you will be,” Uncle Dan always piped in.Some of the kids cried, some kicked and screamed when they realized their predicament. That's what the chamber was for. The Chamber was merely a downstairs storage closet. Those that couldn't settle in the way they were expected had to be given the chamber treatment.

    Sophie was routinely neglected and harmed, starved and left to fend for herself. Social workers were often involved but, despite numerous visits and extensive reports, nothing was ever done.When Sophie was six, her life took another horrible turn: her adored grandfather began to sexually abuse her.Please Will Someone Help Me? is Sophie Young's heartbreaking story about a young girl at the mercy of the adult world. With full access to her social work files, she shows how those who are meant to help children can be blind to the reality of their lives; but how, ultimately, love conquers all.Sophie Young was the eldest of three, born into a dysfunctional family that she fought for years to escape. Now forty years old, she lives in England with her husband and children, and works as a volunteer for a national children's charity.

    He was a jealous man, who beat her up repeatedly; even when she was pregnant with Jill. She was only nineteen and a half when Jill was born. By the time Jill was two and a half, the marriage had ended. When Jill was around four years old, a much worse man had entered both of their lives; only this time, it was Jill who was the one being beaten. It meant nothing to her stepfather to beat her up around three times a week. He killed several beloved pets and made them eat one and also a neighbour’s pet that was found in their garden. Jill always had felt that she was loved and wanted by her mother, who had been an alcoholic since she had left school. However, when her stepfather sexually abused Jill, that was all to change. After some years of festering her rage and two breakdowns, Jill’s mother’s hate became far worse than what her stepfather had dished out. Jill became the family slave and was told daily how much her mother despised her for actually ‘allowing’ herself to be abused. Her mother also started asking the family who liked who, round the dinner table. They all cheered each other but when Jill’s name was called out, they all booed. That hurt Jill more than all of the beatings put together; though she knew her brother and sister did love her deep down and often told her so. It was just their own survival that made them join in. Jill takes you through her life, step by step, as she seeks emotional healing. She had a faith that helped but that got changed to almost unrecognisable over time. In fact, the beliefs that she once held dear, along with her very difficult upbringing, eventually drove her over the edge to a very nasty breakdown. Only when she had hit rock bottom though, did she find the solace she had long been searching for and the healing that came with it. This is not a bitter tale; in fact, it might surprise you how understanding Jill actually is. There are many good times, as well as bad in this book. You will find certain parts quite amusing, as she focuses on those happier times, as well as the bad. That makes this book quite a refreshing and even an uplifting read. Jill has a special knack of explaining things, that you can almost feel as if you are right there with her. Note: Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

    At least a few, sometimes more than a few of our third platoon would be looking forward to spending an hour or so “unwinding from the stress” with brother officers while enjoying a cold beer.Every precinct had a “cops” bar where we could gather without concern about running into the guy we locked up last week. The bad guys knew that bar was off-limits and they were not welcome. They stayed away. After that first cold beer the conversation would usually begin with, “Let me tell you what happened to me and my partner tonight. You won’t believe it.” The storyteller would embellish his most recent policing experience and a good storyteller would always add just enough drama to keep everyone interested. Of course there was always a follow-up by someone with another story and that’s the way it would go until it was time to leave. Those stories became known as “War Stories,” as in, “Do I have a war story for you guys tonight!”

     Now, in this final chapter, she stares down the barrel of a mature existence, and realises that if she's ever going to live a normal life, she'll have to shed herself of her past completely, and start all over again. But after all the baggage is dumped, is there even anything left of the little girl within? DISCLAIMER: This is a true story of child abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

    Slated to go to law school in the fall, she’s completely on her A game with nothing stopping or holding her back. That is until she meets a sexy, young hustler named Thurston Franklin. Her world as she knows it is never the same. His entrance into her life turns her world upside down in a good way and forces her to examine the way she lives her life. Thurston Franklin has worked hard to get to where he is in life and a once in a lifetime opportunity falls in his lap that will forever change life as he knows it. But being involved in this newfound partnership proves to be a conflict of interest and he soon finds himself torn between following his head or following his heart. Will Parrish follow the beat of her heart and give love a try or will she allow her goals to drive her away from the very thing she’s needed all along? Will Thurston choose money and status, or will he allow himself to go in a different direction for once? Follow Parrish and Thurston on a journey of love, passion, self-discovery and loyalty in a thrilling novella penned by Chante.

    It's about a child living like and often acting like a wild animal, fighting for survival, on and under the streets of England. This story may be of interest to other survivors of childhood abuse and cruelty and should be of interest to anyone with children or anyone who cares for them. It contains some powerful lessons relating to child protection and should be of an educational value to child care professionals.

    We also know the original lead investigator, Goncalo Amaral’s, counter-narrative, now a legally defensible matter of public record. The questions that arise from these opposing narratives are dead simple: Which narrative is more credible? Which narrator is more credible? What was the motive behind all the publicity? Neither Madeleine nor her abductor ultimately benefited from the ongoing media barrage, so who did? True crime maestro, Nick van der Leek, plumbs quagmires of confusion and a thicket of thorny inconsistencies to probe what lies beneath: the psychologies. What is the significance of "doctors" as suspects? Did it matter or mean anything that the McCanns and their cabal of friends in the Algarve were mostly doctors? Peeling away the gossamer threads, over the course of just four days [April 29th – May 2nd], van der Leek intuits that very little was routine: not the weather, not where meals were eaten, not where or when they slept and not what they did as a family. But what were their routines when it came to other, murkier things, like sleeping patterns, cell phones and sedatives? Drawing intangibles out of the darkness, van der Leek sews the vexing loose ends from several conflicting stories into a definite - if not definitive - end-result.

    For the next eight years, she and her four sisters struggled to survive the nightmare of sexual and emotional abuse.As an adult, she buried memories of her family’s dysfunction and tried to build the most perfect life she could imagine. But when she discovered that her father was still an incestuous abuser, she knew she had to face her past to protect her children. Going undercover, she was able to prove a twenty-year history of molestation, which her mother aided and abetted. With that evidence and the help of the Adam Walsh Center, she was able, at last, to legally protect her children.From Oregon to the wild beauty of Africa’s interior and back, Laura renders life as they lived it—the isolation, the fear, the losses, the manipulation and control, the tentative and fragile bonds of sisterhood—with humor and a growing sense of self.The Fifth Sister explores incest’s devastating effects on two continents, over three decades. In this compelling, intimate, and artfully told story, readers will experience the crushing impact of psychological, physical, sexual, and spiritual abuse, the burning desire to transcend the family script, and the gritty determination to succeed. Readers who have experienced incest will find their anguish validated by this book. Those who have not faced this trauma will gain deep understanding of dysfunctional families that have many secrets. But above all, The Fifth Sister is a story of hope.