Showing results by publisher "-emdashery books-" in Child Abuse

Despite leaving the courtroom with her reputation intact, Kat's inner life was in turmoil, and it was only due to the loyal support and steadfast encouragement of her ever-increasing fan-base that she managed to complete the sixth volume so soon. Following on from the fifth book, in which she lost her identity but somehow found herself a husband, Karin now finds herself in the precarious position of having to move in with her partner's family - a move known to strain even the tightest of marital bonds.

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.

In Operation KidSafe, former detective and specialist child interviewer Kristi McVee shares her "must-have" tips, advice, and lessons acquired during her career as a police officer where she interviewed adult and child victims and investigated child sexual abuse cases.

All those years you tried your best to break me, and I'm still here. One day you'll see, I'm going to make something of myself. These words were Dave Pelzer's declaration of independence to his mother, and they represented the ultimate act of self-reliance. Dave's father never intervened as his mother abused him with shocking brutality, denying him food and clothing, torturing him in any way she could imagine. This was the woman who told her son she could kill him any time she wanted to—and nearly did.

'Is It My Fault Mummy?': seven-year-old Paris is trapped in a prison of guilt. Devastated after the death of her baby brother, Joel, Maggie faces one of her most heartbreaking cases yet as she tries to break down the wall of guilt surrounding this damaged little girl. 'A Desperate Cry for Help': 12-year-old Meg arrives at Maggie's after a fire destroys the children's home she's been living in. Traumatised by the fire and angry and vulnerable, having been put into care by her mother, Meg is lashing out at everyone around her.

Brought to Casey as a short-term emergency placement, 14-year-old Adrianna arrives with nothing but her gratitude. Having turned herself in to a social services office some 100 miles away, she has no possessions, no English and, apparently, no history - not that she's willing to share, anyway. She is a beautiful young Polish girl, with the bearing of a ballerina, but is terrified, malnourished and unwell.

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 stepfather, who abuses her mentally and physically.

Fred and Rose West are virtually unique in British criminal history: a husband and wife who loved and killed together. During their long relationship, the Wests murdered a series of young women, burying the remains of nine victims under their home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, including those of their daughter. What was left of Fred West's eight-year-old stepdaughter was dug up from under the Wests' previous Gloucester home; his first wife and nanny were buried in open country.

A young girl's life is shadowed by secrets and lies. When Willow arrives in the Allen household, curious things begin to happen. Who is the strange child dressed in outlandish clothes who refuses a mobile phone? What are the mysterious allegations that have been made about her?

Left as a newborn in a box outside Stoke City Football ground, her grandparents took her into their home. But instead of finding a sanctuary, Nicky was subjected to horrific sexual abuse throughout her childhood. In 1951, when Nicky was six years old, her glamorous-looking estranged mother arrived on the doorstep to 'rescue' her. But Nicky's hopes of a safe and loving family were very soon smashed, and her world became darker still.

I start all of my true crime books with a quick word of warning. Most news articles and television true crime shows skim over the vile details of truly horrible crimes. In my books, I don’t gloss over the facts, regardless of how disgusting they may be. I try to give my listeners a clear and accurate description on just how demented the killers really were. I do my best not to leave anything out. The stories included in these books are not for the squeamish.

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.

What possesses a mum to kidnap her own child? That's what Maggie asks herself when she's asked to foster 13-year-old Saskia, the subject of a bitter custody battle between her parents. When Saskia's mum Rosa fears the courts are going to favour her ex-husband, James, she takes matters into her own hands. With Rosa facing criminal charges, and Saskia refusing to live with her dad, her future looks uncertain. Will Maggie be able to step in and discover the bombshell that will tear this family apart?

When newborn baby Felix is found abandoned at a train station, the police launch a desperate search for his mum. It doesn't take long for their inquiries to lead them to Emily. While baby Felix is placed in Maggie's care, the police and Social Services try and work out why Emily, a single mum, who has gone through fertility treatment to get pregnant, has suddenly resorted to abandoning her much longed-for child. But it's only when Maggie wins her trust that Emily reveals the extent of her secret. Can Maggie help a desperate mother and her baby reunite?

In her new book, the Sunday Times and New York Times best-selling author of Damaged tells the story of the Dawn, a sweet and seemingly well-balanced girl whose outward appearance masks a traumatic childhood of suffering at the hands of the very people who should have cared for her. Dawn was the first girl Cathy Glass ever fostered. Sweet and seemingly well balanced girl, Dawn's outward appearance masked a traumatic childhood so awful, that even she could not remember it.

Ruth was a ghost of a girl when she arrived into foster mother Maggie Hartley's care. Pale, frail and withdrawn, it was clear to Maggie that Ruth had seen and experienced things that no 11-year-old should have to, that she had been conditioned to 'see no evil, speak no evil'. Ruth is in desperate need of help, but can Maggie get through to her and unlock the harrowing secret she carries? Through love, reassurance and patience, Maggie starts to unravel Ruth's painful past.

When police are called to a local supermarket late one evening, they find an angry shopkeeper and a silent young woman. It's the third time 24-year-old Zoe has been caught stealing in the past few days. Eyes filled with panic, Zoe has been hiding bread, milk, Calpol and nappies under her coat. As police officers break down the door of Zoe's flat they find seven-year-old Coco and two-year-old Lola, home alone, huddled on the floor in a freezing cold bedroom, crying out for their mummy.

From the author of Number One bestseller Damaged 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.

Three siblings arrive at Maggie's door after being taken into care. Teachers of eight-year-old Bobby spotted bruises while he was getting changed for PE and his dad, Lee, and stepmother, Brianna, have been uncooperative and hostile to Social Services. While they investigate, Bobby, as well as Brianna's daughters, Melodie and Poppy, are all placed in Maggie's care. But as the children settle in, a thought won't let Maggie go. While Melodie and Poppy are clean, well-fed and immaculately dressed, Bobby is pale, severely underweight and crawling with lice.

Maggie faces one of the most challenging cases of her career when a young, orphaned Syrian girl comes to live with her. Barely able to communicate without a shared language, Maggie must battle to reach the vulnerable refugee and help her to start to overcome the traumas she has endured. But there is more horror to come when Maggie starts to suspect that the young girl is being groomed by relatives back in Syria to return and join ISIS.