Livres - Bibliographie

Quand Cathy Glass, mère d’accueil, se voit confier Jodie, huit ans, elle ignore encore qu’elle va vivre le cas le plus terrible de sa carrière. Jodie, qui est extrêmement violente, a le niveau mental et moteur d’une enfant de quatre ans, et souffre de dédoublement de la personnalité... Quelles atrocités ses parents ont-ils bien pu lui faire subir pour la détruire à ce point ? Sa mère d’accueil va découvrir l’horreur absolue...

Quand Reece, sept ans, est confié à Cathy Glass, mère d’accueil, le petit garçon est déscolarisé et a déjà été renvoyé de nombreux foyers. Dernier d’une famille de six enfants, tous placés, il est extrêmement violent.

Portée par son désir de secourir cet enfant en détresse, Cathy va tenter de comprendre son histoire. Mais Reece, lui, ne parle pas : sa mère lui a fait promettre de ne rien dire.

À force d’obstination, Cathy va pourtant découvrir… un abominable secret de famille. À partir de là, elle pourra désormais aider Reece à combattre les démons qui le hantent…

Aucune vie n'est sans espoir... Mère d'accueil, Cathy se voit confier Donna, 10 ans. La petite fille brisée mettra longtemps à révéler l'horreur de ce que sa famille lui a fait subir : battue, humiliée, elle a été réduite à l'esclavage par sa mère et ses frères. Il faudra toute la patience de Cathy pour lui permettre de se libérer de ce cauchemar.

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.

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 takes her from her parents' house and disappears. Cathy spends three anxious days worrying about her whereabouts before Alice is found safe, but traumatized. 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 colors begin to emerge.

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.

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?

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.

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.

‘I’m going to love my baby and give her lots of attention,’ Jade said. ‘I’ll show my mum she’s wrong.’

Jade, 17, is pregnant, homeless and alone when she’s brought to live with Cathy. Jade is desperate to keep her baby, but little more than a child herself, she struggles with the responsibilities her daughter brings.

Cathy is worried as soon as Jade arrives: she’s never looked after a pregnant teenager before, but none of the mother and baby carers free, and – seventeen years old, seven months pregnant and homeless – Jade is in a desperate situation.

But Jade doesn’t want to listen or advice and although her daughter is born safely it isn’t long before Jade’s in trouble with the police.

Cathy knows that Jade loves her daughter with all her heart, but will she be able to get through to Jade in time to make her realise just how much she might lose?

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, international bestselling author, tells the shocking 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.

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, mère d’accueil expérimentée et dévouée, se voit confier la petite Beth, 7 ans, car son papa Derek, avec qui elle vit seule, vient d’être hospitalisé. À certains détails troublants que lui livre la fillette, Cathy soupçonne bien vite une relation étrange entre le père et son enfant. Un lien si exclusif que même la compagne de Derek a fui… Cathy découvre alors l’horreur. Comment s’y prendre pour permettre à la petite fille de retrouver sourire et joie de vivre ?

Malgré ses années d’expérience en tant que mère d’accueil, Cathy Glass fait face à un défi de taille avec le cas d’Aimee, petite fille de 8 ans, qui n’a jamais connu que des conditions de vie déplorables : pas d’hygiène, pas d’éducation… et une violence omniprésente. Alors qu’elle découvre les joies simples de l’enfance, Aimee se libère de ses plus sombres souvenirs.

En conflit avec sa mère, Dawn, 13 ans, est confiée à Cathy, mère d’accueil. Avec son allure douce et enfantine, sa bonne volonté et son besoin d’affection, la jeune fille semble équilibrée. Mais dès la première nuit, des crises de somnambulisme font vaciller cette image trop parfaite. Bientôt Cathy découvre que Dawn sèche les cours, rentre parfois ivre et, comble de l’horreur, se scarifie.

À quel terrible traumatisme Dawn tente-t-elle de survivre ? Cathy, encore au début de sa carrière, n’a pas d’expérience avec les enfants en crise et s’inquiète pour son propre bébé, Adrian. Malgré tout, elle va tout faire pour aider Dawn à devenir une adolescente heureuse.

Après des débuts difficiles, entre une mère droguée et de multiples séjours chaotiques en familles d’accueil, Alex, 7 ans, sera bientôt officiellement adopté par un jeune couple. Enfin une famille à lui !

Mais rien ne va se passer comme prévu. Cathy Glass pensait simplement accompagner Alex dans sa transition ; c’est un défi bien plus grand qui l’attend, tant le cas du petit garçon semble désespéré du fait de son lourd passé… ​

C’est compter sans l’expérience et la douceur de Cathy qui démontre une nouvelle fois qu’elle est bien plus qu’une mère d’accueil : une véritable maman de cœur.

Résumé

Mandy a passé de merveilleux étés dans la maison de sa tante,alors que son grand père est tombé malade, elle y retourne pour la première fois. elle a beau essayer de comprendre,elle ne parvient pas à se rappeler pourquoi un jour, brutalement, elle a cessé d'y venir.

A-t-elle fait une bêtise quand elle était enfant ? Est-ce que son père s'est disputé avec son oncle? Mandy a l'impression que ce passé appartient à une autre vie, que sa mémoire a été comme effacée.

Mais chaque pièce de la maison semble murmurer quelques échos du passé. Chaque membre de sa famille, aussi. Et peu à peu, des flashs mettent Mandy sur la voie de souvenirs que tous veulent lui faire oublier. Des souvenirs monstrueux, choquants, qui pourraient faire voler toute la famille en éclats ...

Pour sauver une petite fille de l'enfer.

Quand Melody, huit ans, est recueillie par les services sociaux, son histoire semble être celle de trop nombreux enfants. Élevée par une mère alcoolique et droguée, la petite fille vit dans un sous-sol froid et humide, ne mange pas à sa faim et ne va jamais à l'école. Un profil tristement banal pour Cathy Glass, mère d'accueil expérimentée, qui entend bien redonner à Melody l'insouciance de son âge. Mais au fil des jours, elle découvre que l'attachement viscéral de l'enfant à sa mère cache une réalité plus complexe. Plus que jamais, Cathy est déterminée à offrir à Melody une nouvelle vie heureuse et remplie d'affection.

Du haut de ses 14 ans, Tilly a demandé elle-même aux services sociaux à être placée. Elle ne supporte plus les incessantes disputes entre sa mère Heather et son beau-père Dave. Elle est confiée à Cathy Glass, mère d'accueil expérimentée. Celle-ci ne tarde pas à comprendre qu'Heather est victime de violences conjugales. Il est urgent d'éloigner Tilly de ce foyer dangereux et de cet homme qui semble vouloir tout contrôler de la vie de la jeune fille. Un nouveau défi pour Cathy, déjà chamboulée par l'annonce de la grossesse surprise de sa fille adoptive. Elle ignore encore l'étendue de l'emprise de Dave sur Tilly...

Sauver une enfant...et sa maman

Pour sa nouvelle mission, c’est un bébé d’à peine 2 jours que se voit confier Cathy Glass, mère d’accueil. La petite Darcy-May a été abandonnée par Haylea, âgée de 15 ans, et sa famille ne doit absolument pas savoir où elle est. Mais l’adolescente se ravise. Cathy comprend alors que, pour Haylea qui a vécu l’enfer, abandonner Darcy-May, c’était la sauver. Un double défi attend désormais Cathy…

Mère d’accueil, Cathy Glass se voit confier Molly, trois ans, et son petit-frère, Kit, après des blessures suspectes. Maltraitance parentale ? Cathy peine à le croire, jusqu’à ce que les enfants tombent malades après un rendez-vous avec leur mère…