Cathy Glass
Too Scared to Tell
Cathy Glass
The true story of a 6-year-old boy with a dreadful secret.
Oskar's school teacher raises the alarm. Oskar's mother is abroad and he has been left in the care of 'friends', but has been arriving in school hungry, unkempt, and with bruises on his arms, legs and body. Experienced foster carer Cathy Glass is asked to look after him, but as the weeks pass her concerns deepen. Oskar is far too quiet for a child of six and is clearly scared of something or someone.
And who are those men parked outside his school watching him?
Please Don’t Take My Baby
Cathy Glass
Kiedy Jade wprowadza sie do Cathy, ma zaledwie siedemnascie lat, jest w ciazy, samotna i bezdomna. Rozpaczliwie pragnie zatrzymac córke, lecz przeciez sama jest niemal dzieckiem i z trudem radzi sobie z obowiazkami, które pojawily sie wraz z przyjsciem na swiat Courtney.
Tuz po przybyciu Jade, Cathy ogarnia niepokó nigdy wczesniej nie opiekowala sie ciezarna nastolatka. Niestety, we wszystkich rodzinach zastepczych specjalizujacych sie w tego rodzaju pomocy nie ma na razie miejsca. Jade - bezdomna siedemnastolatka w siódmym miesiacu ciazy - jest w rozpaczliwej sytuacji.
Nie slucha jednak ostrzezen i rad. Rodzi zdrowe i sliczne dziecko, ale wkrótce potem popada w konflikt z prawem.
Cathy wie, ze Jade kocha córeczke calym sercem. Czy jednak Cathy zdazy przemówic dziewczynie do rozsadku i uswiadomic jej, jak wiele moze stracic?
The Saddest Girl in the World
Cathy Glass
Minimal shelfwear. DJ has a crinkled upper spine and edge only flaw. No markings. Pages are clean and bright. Binding is tight.
Hidden
Cathy Glass
From the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author comes the poignant and shocking memoir of Cathy’s recent relationship with Tayo, a young boy she fosters whose good behaviour and polite manners hide a terrible past. Tayo arrives at Cathy’s with only the clothes he stands up in. He has been brought to her by the police, but he is calm, polite, and very well spoken, and not at all like the children she normally fosters. The social worker gives Cathy the forms which should contain Tayo’s history, but apart from his name and age, it is blank. Tayo has no past. Tayo is an 'invisible' child, kidnapped from his loving father in Nigeria and brought illegally to the UK by his drink and drugs dependent prostitute mother, where he is put to work in a sweat shop in Central London. When he sustains an injury and is no longer earning, he is cast out. When Cathy takes Tayo to school he points out a dozen different addresses where he has stayed in the last six months, often being left alone. Tayo lies, and manipulates situations to his own advantage and Cathy has to be continually on guard. Tayo’s social worker searches all computer databases but there is no record of Tayo – he has only attended school for 3 terms and has never seen a doctor. He and his mother have been evading the authorities by living ‘underground’. With his mother recently released from prison, Tayo is desperate to live with his father in Nigeria, but no one can track him down or even prove that he exists. Cathy Glass' book 'A Family Torn Apart' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10-10-2022.
Mummy Told Me Not to Tell
Cathy Glass
When Reece arrives at Cathy's door at 7 years old, he has already passed through the hands of four different carers in four weeks. As the details of his short life emerge, it becomes clear that to help him, Cathy will face her biggest challenge yet. Reece is the last of six siblings to be fostered. Having been in care for four months his aggressive and disruptive behavior has seen him passed from carer to carer. Although only 7, he has been excluded from school, and bites people so often that his mother calls him "Sharky." Cathy wants to find the answers for Reece's distressing behavior, but he has been sworn to secrecy by his mother, and will not tell them anything. As the social worker prepares for the final hearing, he finds five different files on Reece's family, and is incredulous that he had not been removed from them as a baby. When the darkest of family secrets is revealed to Cathy, Reece's behavior suddenly starts to make sense, and together they can begin to rebuild his life.
The Child Bride
Cathy Glass
The story of Zeena, a young Asian girl desperate to escape from her family. When 14 -year-old Zeena begs to be taken into care with a non-Asian family, she is clearly petrified. But of what?
Placed in the home of experienced foster carer Cathy and her family, Zeena gradually settles into her new life, but misses her little brothers and sisters terribly. Prevented from having any contact with them by her family who insist she has brought shame and dishonour on the whole community, Zeena tries to see them at school. But when her father and uncle find out, they bundle her into a car and threaten to set fire to her if she makes anymore trouble. Zeena is too frightened to press charges against them despite being offered police protection in a safe house.
Eventually, Cathy discovers the devastating truth from Zeena, and with devastation she believes there is little she can do to help her.
Can I Let You Go?
Cathy Glass
Can I Let You Go? is the true story of Faye, a wonderful young woman who may never be able to parent her unborn child.
Faye is 24, pregnant, and has learning difficulties as a result of her mother’s alcoholism. Faye is gentle, childlike and vulnerable, and normally lives with her grandparents, both of whom have mobility problems. Cathy and her children welcome Faye into their home and hearts. The care plan is for Faye to stay with Cathy until after the birth when she will return home and the baby will go for adoption. Given that Faye never goes out alone it is something of a mystery how she ever became pregnant and Faye says it’s a secret.
To begin with Faye won’t acknowledge she is pregnant or talk about the changes in her body as she worries it will upset her grandparents, but after her social worker assures her she can talk to Cathy she opens up. However, this leads to Faye realizing just how much she will lose and she changes her mind and says she wants to keep her baby.
Is it possible Faye could learn enough to parent her child? Cathy believes it is, and Faye’s social worker is obliged to give Faye the chance.
Girl Alone
Cathy Glass
Aged nine Joss came home from school to discover her father's suicide. She's never got over it.
This is the true story of Joss, 13 who is angry and out of control. At the age of nine, Joss finds her father’s dead body. He has committed suicide. Then more recently her mother remarries and Joss bitterly resents her step-father who abuses her mentally and physically. Cathy takes Joss under her wing but will she ever be able to get through to the warm-hearted girl she sees glimpses off underneath the vehement outbreaks of anger that dominate the house and will Cathy be able to build up Joss’s trust so she can learn the full truth of the terrible situation.
Where has Mummy Gone?: When there is nothing left but memories…
Cathy Glass
The true story of Melody, aged 8, the last of five siblings to be taken from her drug dependent single mother and brought into care.
When Cathy is told about Melody’s terrible childhood, she is sure she’s heard it all before. But it isn’t long before she feels there is more going on than she or the social services are aware of. Although Melody is angry at having to leave her mother, as many children coming into care are, she also worries about her obsessively – far more than is usual. Amanda, Melody’s mother, is also angry and takes it out on Cathy at contact, which again is something Cathy has experienced before. Yet there is a lost and vulnerable look about Amanda, and Cathy starts to see why Melody worries about her and feels she needs looking after.
When Amanda misses contact, it is assumed she has forgotten, but nothing could have been further from the truth…
Innocent: The True Story of Siblings Struggling to Survive
Cathy Glass
Innocent is the shocking true story of little Molly and Kit, siblings, aged 3 years and 18 months, who are brought into care as an emergency after suffering non-accidental injuries.
Aneta and Filip, the children’s parents, are distraught when their children are taken into care. Aneta maintains she is innocent of harming them, while Filip appears bewildered and out of his depth. It’s true the family has never come to the attention of the social services before and little Kit and Molly appear to have been well looked after, but Kit has a broken arm and bruises on his face. Could it be they were a result of a genuine accident as Aneta is claiming? Both children become sick with a mysterious illness while, experienced foster carer, Cathy, is looking after them. Very worried, she asks for more hospital tests to be done. They’ve already had a lot. When Cathy’s daughter, Lucy, becomes ill too she believes she has found the cause of Kit and Molly’s illness and the parents aren’t to blame. However, nothing could be further from the truth and what comes to light is far more sinister and shocking.
The Silent Cry
Cathy Glass
The heartbreaking true story of a young, troubled mother who needed help.The sixteenth fostering memoir by Cathy Glass.It’s a big, exciting moment for Laura when she decides to finally take her new baby out to the school playground for the first time ever. What should be a happy, magical moment quickly sours, however, when Laura suddenly feels queasy and runs off back home. None of the other schoolyard mothers seem to notice this troubled, struggling woman – apart from Cathy. But when Cathy tries to help, she finds herself hitting wall after wall. Laura needs medical help but refuses to see a doctor. Her own cold mother refuses to help. It is left to Cathy to try and bring light to this dark and dangerous place.
The Girl in the Mirror
Cathy Glass
When Mandy learns her much-loved Grandpa is dying, she returns to the house where she spent so many wonderful summers as a child. But she has long since lost touch with the rest of her family, and Mandy returns as a virtual stranger. As memories come back to her, Mandy begins to remember why events brought a sudden end to her visits.
Run, Mummy, Run
Cathy Glass
From the author of Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller Damaged, the gripping story of a woman caught in a horrific cycle of abuse - and the desperate lengths she must go to, to escape. When Aisha spots an ad for a 'personal introductory service for professionals' in the newspaper, she could never have guessed it would lead to such a perfect marriage. But you should be careful what you wish for… Mark is sorry the first time he hits Aisha. His tears make her all the more determined to be a better wife; not to let herself down again. But however hard Aisha tries, she can't live up to Mark's impossible expectations – or escape his terrifying, violent temper. Soon she is trapped in a cycle of horrific abuse and imprisonment. And with two young children to protect, Aisha must draw on what strength she has left to find an escape. What follows is something so devastating it plunges Aisha into her darkest days yet. Is the price she must pay for freedom too high? Cathy Glass' book 'A Family Torn Apart' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10-10-2022.
My Dad’s a Policeman (Quick Reads)
Cathy Glass
The second novel, and first quick read title, from Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Cathy Glass. My Dad's a Policeman is a dramatic and engaging story of a young boy with an alcoholic mother. Lonely, bullied and desperate for a life of happiness and security he tells everyone he meets his dad's a policeman. Fast-paced and compelling, this short story from Cathy Glass follows the experiences of a Ryan, a small and lonely 12-year-old boy who struggles to fit in. In an attempt to make friends, and discourage the school bullies from picking on him, Ryan tells his peers that his dad is a policeman. When the police actually turn up on Ryan's doorstep, to take him away from his alcoholic mother and put him in care, his life crumbles. It's not long before Ryan has run away, taking a long bus ride back across the city, desperate to get back to the inner-city life he knows. Keeping a low profile, and sneaking in to his best friend's house late a night for shelter, he soon discovers that he's not the only one who appears to be stretching the truth about the happiness of his home life. Cathy Glass' book 'A Family Torn Apart' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10-10-2022.
I Miss Mummy
Cathy Glass
Alice, aged four, is snatched by her mother the day she is due to arrive at Cathy's house. Drug-dependent and mentally ill, but desperate to keep hold of her daughter, Alice's mother snatches her from her parents' house and disappears.
Cathy spends three anxious days worrying about her whereabouts before Alice is found safe, but traumatised. Alice is like a little doll, so young and vulnerable, and she immediately finds her place in the heart of Cathy's family. She talks openly about her mummy, who she dearly loves, and how happy she was living with her maternal grandparents before she was put into care. Alice has clearly been very well looked after and Cathy can't understand why she couldn't stay with her grandparents.
It emerges that Alice's grandparents are considered too old (they are in their early sixties) and that the plan is that Alice will stay with Cathy for a month before moving to live with her father and his new wife. The grandparents are distraught – Alice has never known her father, and her grandparents claim he is a violent drug dealer.
Desperate to help Alice find the happy home she deserves, Cathy's parenting skills are tested in many new ways. Finally questions are asked about Alice's father suitability, and his true colours begin to emerge.
Will You Love Me?: Lucy's Story: The Heartbreaking True Story of My Adopted Daughter and Her Desperate Search for a Loving Home
Cathy Glass
The eleventh memoir and latest title from the internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass. This book tells the true story of Cathy s adopted daughter Lucy.
Lucy was born to a single mother who had been abused and neglected for most of her own childhood. Right from the beginning Lucy s mother couldn t cope, but it wasn t until Lucy reached eight years old that she was finally taken into permanent foster care.
By the time Lucy is brought to live with Cathy she is eleven years old and severely distressed after being moved from one foster home to another. Withdrawn, refusing to eat and three years behind in her schooling, it is thought that the damage Lucy has suffered is irreversible.
But Cathy and her two children bond with Lucy quickly, and break through to Lucy in a way no-one else has been able to, finally showing her the loving home she never believed existed. Cathy and Lucy believe they were always destined to be mother and daughter it just took them a little while to find each other.
A Baby's Cry
Cathy Glass
What could cause a mother to believe that giving away her newborn baby is her only option? Cathy Glass is about to find out. From the author of Damaged comes a harrowing and moving memoir about tiny Harrison, left in Cathy's care, and the potentially fatal family secret of his beginnings. When Cathy is first asked to foster one-day old Harrison her only concern is if she will remember how to look after a baby. But upon collecting Harrison from the hospital, Cathy realizes she has more to worry than she thought when she discovers that his background is shrouded in secrecy. She isn't told why Harrison is in foster care and his social worker says only a few are aware of his very existence, and if his whereabouts became known his life, and that of his parents, could be in danger. Cathy tries to put her worries aside as she looks after Harrison, a beautiful baby, who is alert and engaging. Cathy and her children quickly bond with Harrison although they know that, inevitably, he will eventually be adopted. But when a woman Cathy doesn't know starts appearing in the street outside her house acting suspiciously, Cathy fears for her own family's safety and demands some answers from Harrison's social worker. The social worker tells Cathy a little but what she says is very disturbing. How is this woman connected to Harrison and can she answer the questions that will affect Harrison's whole life?
The Night the Angels Came
Cathy Glass
When Cathy receives a call about a terminally ill widower terrified of leaving his son all alone in the world, she is wracked with sadness and indecision. Can she risk exposing her own young children to a little boy on the brink of bereavement?
Eight year old Michael is part of a family of two, but with his beloved father given only months to live and his mother having died when he was a toddler, he could soon become an orphan. Will Cathy’s own young family be able to handle a child in mourning? To Cathy’s surprise, her children insist that this boy deserves to be as happy as they are, prompting Cathy to welcome Michael into her home.
A cheerful and carefree new member of the family, Michael devotedly prays every night, believing that when the time is right, angels will come and take his Daddy to be with his Mummy in heaven. However, incredibly, in the weeks that pass, the bond between Cathy’s family, Michael and his kind and loving father Patrick grows. Even more promising, Patrick is looking healthier than he’s done in weeks.
But just as they are settling into a routine of blissful normality, an unexpected and disastrous event shatters the happy group, shaking Cathy to the core. Cathy can only hope that her family and Michael’s admirable faith will keep him strong enough to rebuild his life.
Another Forgotten Child
Cathy Glass
A new memoir from Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Cathy Glass.
Eight-year-old Aimee was on the child protection register at birth. 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…
Cut: The True Story of an Abandoned, Abused Little Girl Who Was Desperate to Be Part of a Family
Cathy Glass
Damaged
Cathy Glass
Happy Kids: The Secrets to Raising Well-Behaved, Contented Children
Cathy Glass
Happy Adults
Cathy Glass
Number 1 bestselling author, Cathy Glass, shares her experience and expertise gained across 25 years as a foster carer in this brilliantly practical self-help guide for adults, the long-awaited sequel to her much-loved parenting guide that fans of Happy Kids have been clamouring for.
Cathy Glass reveals the secrets of happiness and contentment in adulthood by combining common-sense psychology with tried-and-tested strategies and case studies, always from her own unique and insightful perspective. With practical guidance on how to develop your own optimistic personal philosophy, tips on when to listen to intuition, and attitude and lifestyle suggestions, Happy Adults is the essential manual for getting the best out of life.
The recipient of thousands of letters and emails from readers touched by her inspirational memoirs whose own life stories resonate with those of the children in her care, Cathy has identified the key traits in happy readers that have buoyed them up during harrowing childhoods, through to functional and successful adulthood.
Compiling these valuable lessons on outlook and behaviour, for instance, how to dispel negativity and unproductive anger and embrace empowerment, and the importance of trust in oneself, Cathy has produced a single invaluable handbook for adults seeking fundamental life guidance or useful effective approaches for a lifetime of hope and fulfilment.
A Life Lost: Part 3 of 3: The shocking true story
Cathy Glass
PART 3 OF 3
Jackson is aggressive, confrontational and often volatile. His mother, Kayla, is crippled with grief after tragically losing her husband and eldest son. Struggling to cope, she puts Jackson into foster care.
Cathy, his carer, encourages Jackson to talk about what has happened to his family, but he just won’t engage. His actions continue to test and worry everyone.
Then, in a dramatic turn of events, the true reason for Jackson’s behaviour comes to light …
A Life Lost: Part 1 of 3: The shocking true story
Cathy Glass
PART 1 OF 3
Jackson is aggressive, confrontational and often volatile. His mother, Kayla, is crippled with grief after tragically losing her husband and eldest son. Struggling to cope, she puts Jackson into foster care.
Cathy, his carer, encourages Jackson to talk about what has happened to his family, but he just won’t engage. His actions continue to test and worry everyone.
Then, in a dramatic turn of events, the true reason for Jackson’s behaviour comes to light …
A Life Lost: Part 2 of 3: The shocking true story
Cathy Glass
PART 2 OF 3
Jackson is aggressive, confrontational and often volatile. His mother, Kayla, is crippled with grief after tragically losing her husband and eldest son. Struggling to cope, she puts Jackson into foster care.
Cathy, his carer, encourages Jackson to talk about what has happened to his family, but he just won’t engage. His actions continue to test and worry everyone.
Then, in a dramatic turn of events, the true reason for Jackson’s behaviour comes to light …
A Life Lost: The shocking true story
Cathy Glass
Unwanted: The care system failed Lara. Will she fail her own child?
Cathy Glass
Lara was seven when her birth mother died from a drug overdose. With no extended family to look after her, she was put into foster care. The care system failed Lara and now she is failing her son.
Lara and her one-year-old son, Arthur, are brought to experienced foster carer, Cathy Glass, by their social worker. Lara has fled an abusive relationship and Arthur has suspected non-accidental injuries. Cathy must monitor Lara whenever she is with her son, day and night. She cannot let them out of her sight for a minute.
Lara loves her son, but she puts her own needs first. Cathy must teach Lara how to care for Arthur, but will it be enough to allow her to keep him?
Cathy Glass's book 'Unwanted' was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2023-01-16.
Skadad
Cathy Glass
A Terrible Secret: Scared for her safety, Tilly places herself into care. A shocking true story.
Cathy Glass
Tilly hates her stepfather, Dave. He abuses her mother, but she refuses to leave him.
Frightened for her own safety, Tilly asks to go into foster care and is placed with Cathy. Tilly arrives with a graze on her cheek and Cathy becomes increasingly concerned by Dave’s behaviour, especially when she learns he has been showering Tilly with gifts. While she’s busy looking after Tilly and trying to keep her safe, Cathy is also worried about her own daughter, Lucy. She has a very difficult decision to make that will affect the rest of her life, and Cathy hopes she makes the right choice.
A Life Lost: Jackson Is Haunted by a Secret from His Past
Cathy Glass
Jackson is aggressive, confrontational and often volatile. His mother, Kayla, is crippled with grief after tragically losing her husband and eldest son. Struggling to cope, she puts Jackson into foster care. Cathy, his carer, encourages Jackson to talk about what has happened to his family, but he just won’t engage. His actions continue to test and worry everyone. Then, in a dramatic turn of events, the true reason for Jackson’s behaviour comes to light … Cathy Glass' book 'A Family Torn Apart' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10-10-2022.
Unsafe: Damian longs for home, but one man stands in his way
Cathy Glass
Damian longs for home, but one man stands in his way …
Damian is just seven when he is taken in by foster carer Cathy Glass. His mother, Rachel, loves her three young children dearly, but she is vulnerable, naive and unable to cope on her own.
Cathy sets about helping Damian overcome his eating issues, with the hope that he will eventually return home. But when Rachel’s new boyfriend, Troy, arrives on the scene, Cathy becomes deeply concerned. She soon realises that Damian and his siblings are in great danger …
Cathy Glass's book 'Unwanted' was a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2023-01-16.
An Innocent Baby: Why would anyone abandon little Darcy-May?
Cathy Glass
When foster carer, Cathy Glass, is asked to foster Darcy-May, a two-day old baby, she is very concerned. The baby is coming to her straight from hospital and will have no contact with her teenage mother, Haylea. 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. Cathy Glass' book 'A Family Torn Apart' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10-10-2022.
A Family Torn Apart: Three sisters and a dark secret that threatens to separate them for ever
Cathy Glass
Angie, 6, and her sister, Polly, 4, are utterly distraught when they arrive at Cathy’s house, having been taken from their home by social workers, after their older half-sister, Ashleigh, accuses their father of raping her.
Cathy tries to comfort the girls, but they want their mummy and daddy, and are inconsolable for days. They appear to have been well looked after and the family has never come to the attention of the social services before. However, as the girls settle and start to talk of life at home, it becomes clear that Ashleigh didn’t enjoy the same close relationship with her stepfather. She is supposed to have phone contact with Polly and Angie but doesn’t want to speak to them, which seems strange.
A chance remark from Angie makes Cathy wonder whether Ashleigh is telling the truth. Could it be that this is a false allegation? Will the family ever be reunited?
Neglected: Scared, hungry and alone, Jamey craves affection
Cathy Glass
Little Jamey, 2½ years old, is placed with experienced foster carer, Cathy Glass, as an emergency.
The police and social services had no choice after a neighbour reported Jamey had been left alone all night while his mother went out partying. Scared, hungry and withdrawn, Jamey has spent so much time in his cot that his leg muscles haven’t developed, and he can barely walk. He is craving affection, and Cathy and her family find him very easy to love. However, as Jamey begins to settle in and make progress a new threat emerges. Coronavirus and lockdown changes everything.
A Terrible Secret: Scared for her safety, Tilly places herself into foster care. A shocking true story.
Cathy Glass
Tilly hates her stepfather, Dave. He abuses her mother, but she refuses to leave him. Frightened for her own safety, Tilly asks to go into foster care and is placed with Cathy. Tilly arrives with a graze on her cheek and Cathy becomes increasingly concerned by Dave’s behaviour, especially when she learns he has been showering Tilly with gifts. While she’s busy looking after Tilly and trying to keep her safe, Cathy is also worried about her own daughter, Lucy. She has a very difficult decision to make that will affect the rest of her life, and Cathy hopes she makes the right choice.Perfect for fans of Maggie Hartley, Lisa Stone and Ann Cusack!
Nobody’s Son: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Cathy Glass
BORN IN A PRISON AND REMOVED FROM HIS DRUG-DEPENDENT MOTHER, REJECTION IS ALL THAT 7-YEAR-OLD ALEX KNOWS. When Cathy is asked to foster little Alex, aged 7, her immediate reaction is: Why can’t he stay with his present carers for the last month? He’s already had many moves since coming into care as a toddler and he’ll only be with her a short while before he goes to live with his permanent adoptive family. But the present carers are expecting a baby and the foster mother isn’t coping, so Alex goes to live with Cathy.He settles easily and is very much looking forward to having a forever family of his own. The introductions and move to his adoptive family go well. But Alex is only with them for a week when problems begin. What happens next is both shocking and upsetting, and calls into question the whole adoption process.
Cruel to Be Kind: Saying no can save a child’s life
Cathy Glass
Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Fostering Max gets off to a bad start when his mother, Caz, complains and threatens Cathy even before Max has moved in. Cathy and her family are shocked when they first meet Max. But his social worker isn’t the only one in denial; his whole family are too.
A Long Way from Home
Cathy Glass
The true story of 2 year-old Anna, abandoned by her natural parents, left alone in a neglected orphanage.
Elaine and Ian had travelled half way round the world to adopt little Anna. She couldn’t have been more wanted, loved and cherished. So why was she now in foster care and living with me? It didn’t make sense.
Until I learned what had happened. …
Dressed only in nappies and ragged T-shirts the children were incarcerated in their cots. Their large eyes stared out blankly from emaciated faces. Some were obviously disabled, others not, but all were badly undernourished. Flies circled around the broken ceiling fans and buzzed against the grids covering the windows. The only toys were a few balls and a handful of building bricks, but no child played with them. The silence was deafening and unnatural. Not one of the thirty or so infants cried, let alone spoke.
Where Has Mummy Gone?: A Young Girl and a Mother Who No Longer Knows Her
Cathy Glass
The true story of Melody, aged 8, the last of five siblings to be taken from her drug dependent single mother and brought into care.
When Cathy is told about Melody’s terrible childhood, she is sure she’s heard it all before. But it isn’t long before she feels there is more going on than she or the social services are aware of. Although Melody is angry at having to leave her mother, as many children coming into care are, she also worries about her obsessively – far more than is usual. Amanda, Melody’s mother, is also angry and takes it out on Cathy at contact, which again is something Cathy has experienced before. Yet there is a lost and vulnerable look about Amanda, and Cathy starts to see why Melody worries about her and feels she needs looking after.
When Amanda misses contact, it is assumed she has forgotten, but nothing could have been further from the truth…
Finding Stevie
Cathy Glass
The true story of Stevie, aged 14, who is struggling with his gender identity when he is fostered by Cathy after his erratic behaviour brought his caregivers up short.
When Cathy is told to expect Stevie, who is gender fluid, she isn’t sure what the term means and looks it up online. Stevie and his two younger siblings, Liam and Kiri, have been brought up by their grandparents, as their mother is drug and alcohol dependent and in prison. As Stevie’s behaviour grows more unstable, the grandparents can no longer cope and put him into care.
As Stevie settles into life at Cathy’s, he starts to attend school more often and his behaviour improves – things seem to be looking up. However, Cathy notices that he is spending an increasing amount of time in his room and on the internet. Soon enough, Stevie shuts himself off from the world around him. Silent and withdrawn, Cathy’s unrelenting concern for Stevie’s wellbeing leads her to discover the terrifying root of his behaviour…
Lost Boy is a dark and poignant true story that highlights the dangers lurking online and the trouble the unknown can cause.
Saving Danny
Cathy Glass
The fifteenth fostering memoir by Cathy Glass.
Danny was petrified and clung to me in desperation as I carried him to my car. Trapped in his own dark world, he couldn't understand why his parents no longer loved or wanted him, and were sending him away. While Danny’s parents have everything they could wish for in material terms, they are unable to care for their only child. This is where Cathy comes in. On a cold dark evening Danny finds a place in her home where he can be himself; away from his parents’ impatience and frustration. Often in his own little world, six-year-old Danny finds it difficult to communicate, finding solace in his best friend and confidant George – his rabbit.
Cathy quickly becomes aware of his obsessively meticulous behaviour in addition to his love of patterns, he sees them everywhere and creates them at any opportunity – in his play and also with his food. She realises that patience is the key to looking after Danny as well as her well-tried strategies for managing children’s behaviour.
With his father refusing to cooperate, it becomes increasingly likely that Danny will be living with Cathy permanently until she gets an opportunity to speak her piece. Cathy Glass' book 'A Family Torn Apart' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 10-10-2022.
Daddy’s Little Princess
Cathy Glass
The latest title from the internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass.
Beth is a sweet-natured child who appears to have been well looked after. But it isn’t long before Cathy begins to have concerns that the relationship between Beth and her father is not as it should be.
Little Beth, aged 7, has been brought up by her father Derek after her mother left when she was a toddler. When Derek is suddenly admitted to hospital with psychiatric problems Beth is taken into care and arrives at Cathy’s.
Beth and her father clearly love each other very much and Derek spoils his daughter, treating her like a princess, but there is something bothering Cathy, something she can’t quite put her finger on.
Meanwhile Cathy’s husband is working away a lot and coming home less at weekends. Then, suddenly, everything changes. Events take a dramatic turn for both Beth and Cathy and her family; as Cathy strives to pick up the pieces all their lives are changed forever.
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