A Family Torn Apart: Three sisters and a dark secret that threatens to separate them for ever

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Her next three titles, Hidden, Cut and The Saddest Girl in the World, were similarly successful, all reaching the bestseller charts.

I'm so glad everything got sorted but I feel so heartbroken the family had to go through it in the first place. I would highly recommend this book and all of Cathy's books to anyone who is interested in fostering or social work, those who enjoy memoirs, or those just looking for something interesting. They appear to have been well looked after and the family has never come to the attention of the social services before. this book broke me especially as the young children were finding virtual contact difficult and not seeing their parents in person . The discussion Q's seemed slightly insensitive, as of course children's allegations should be taken serious.Cathy instantly began labelling Tim with names although as a Foster carer she shouldn't have been using those titles. Despite mentioning that she does not / would not judge families, there were references to her "being right" about quite sensitive topics. Way too much detail and the whole time you’re wanting to get to the end to find out the truth but mainly just to get it over with. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

I suspect there are issues of consent, which is why she publishes under a pseudonym and changes the names of her charges and their families, but she provides lots of very specific details about the family, regardless. i just hope the family are able to get their life back on track and move forward with help and support.As is my custom I looked up the author, Cathy Glass, before starting the book and to my dismay I learned that she’s ground out dozens of what looked like tearjerkers about pitiful foster kids who end up living happily ever after. This was the story of two little girls who’s elder sister had made allegations against their father (the older sister’s stepfather) ending in them being removed to Cathy’s care.

Yes I'm sure sometimes children lie but it is extremely rare compared to how many children are actually being abused. She starts with the same methods of looking after children each time then adapts where necessary and is rarely surprised by any reaction that she has to deal with. a lot of people complained about the covid references- personally i didn’t mind them and i found that they were relevant to the setting. She always explains unfamiliar fostering jargon, procedures, and processes in easily digestible terms to eliminate any disconnect or confusion. And the book’s description of the “ripple effect” of a child’s removal from his own home, however bad, shows it to be enormous, however good the foster home.

nevertheless, i appreciated her writing style and insights into fostering as usual and it was nice to see that the children were indeed not victims. They loved their mummy and daddy and seemed to have been well cared for, but their older half-sister Ashleigh, had accused their father of raping her. The plot plays out in a surprising way that gives an important lesson for anyone involved in child protection. As described, the English foster system sounds much more bureaucratic, and much more concerned with childrens’ well-being than is California’s.

I also worked closely with the police on abuse cases and understand why social workers cannot share all the information discovered during the assessment process.I didn’t feel it was one of Cathy’s best books to be honest, and it didn’t seem like the same person had written it!