Fourteen-year-old Adrianna arrives on Casey's doorstep with no possessions, no English, and no explanation. It will be a few weeks before Casey starts getting the shocking answers to her questions.... Brought to Casey as a short-term emergency placement, fourteen-year-old Adrianna arrives with nothing but her gratitude. Having 'turned herself in' to a social services office some hundred 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. And, having slept rough for some time (the little they do know about her) she spends much of her first days with Watsons asleep in bed. Growing concerned about Adrianna's wellbeing, and her persistent high temperature, Casey decides to call in the GP. But, to her surprise, Adrianna becomes almost hysterical about being examined and, given her refusal to talk - even via the interpreter they've brought in for her - Casey's fostering antennae begin twitching. Where has she come from? And why is she so terrified to be touched? What has happened to make her so ill and scared? It will be a few weeks before Casey starts getting answers to these questions. Shocking answers; ones that throw up a whole host of new questions and the beginnings of a journey to find justice for Adrianna, and, more importantly, a future, and a home...

Explore current social developments, issues, and controversies concerning young victims! The Victimization of Children: Emerging Issues keeps students and practitioners working with young victims on the cutting edge of the latest research developments regarding crimes against children. Leading experts from the legal, medical, and sociological communities explore some of the most urgent issues involving child victims. Researchers and practitioners in victim services, social work, mental health, public health, and criminal justice will all benefit from this useful resource. While numerous books have been written on the topic of child abuse and neglect, few delve into the more contemporary issues and problems. The Victimization of Children fills a large void in the literature by offering advanced discussions of today's most relevant topics, making this book an in-depth supplement to generic textbooks. Forward-thinking and thought-provoking, this timely resource provides sound research to expand your knowledge base. This book provides insights into such contemporary issues as: the victimization of youths on the Internet children as victims of war and terrorism spatial patterns of child maltreatmentthe concentration of child maltreatment within certain geographical areas religion-related child abuse the role of health care professionals in response to child victimization children with disabilitiesabuse, neglect, and the child welfare system fetal homicideemerging statutory and judicial regulation of third-party assaults legal and social issues surrounding closed-circuit television testimony of child victims and witnesses juvenile courts and their role in addressing family violence The Victimization of Children provides tables, figures, and the latest statistics of various aspects of child victimization to complement the experts' contributions. This book offers new and different responses and interventions to meet the increasingly diverse contexts and situations within which child maltreatment occurs. Emerging trends are explored within this book from a cross-section of disciplines, including law, sociology, criminal justice, psychology, and health services.

Aged nine Joss came home from school to discover her father's suicide. She's never gotten 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 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 of 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?

Successfully navigate the minefield of misinformation that can prevent justice from being done in child sexual abuse cases From the Foreword, by Robert Geffner, PhD, editor of the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse: "Too often, the public and some professionals have been misled by media publicity and articles . . . that appear scientific, but in reality, are biased opinions or over-generalized research. Forensic cases are being decided in many courts based upon the recommendations of so-called expert witnesses'who do not actually know the clinical research or understand the dynamics of such abusive relationships." This much-needed book points out and corrects misinformation that everyone who works with victims, offenders, or families in which sexual abuse has occurred needs to understand clearly. Especially vital in today's political climate, Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors gives you state-of-the-science information on such myths as "false memory syndrome," "recovered memory therapy," and the "lack of harm" to some sexually abused boys. Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors examines: forensic issues, including the "false memory" defense and how the long-term impact of childhood sexual abuse is often misrepresented in court three separate expert examinations of Rind, Tromovitch, and Bauserman's well-known--and often misrepresented--review of long-term child sexual abuse outcomes treatment recommendations and guidelines for addressing the memory controversy in clinical practice the fascinating case history/cautionary tale of the child molester Robert Halsey, who was convicted and sentenced to two life sentences in 1993, and how public and academic resources were misused to claim he was wrongly convicted.

Diagnose and treat shaken baby syndrome with advice from experts in the field When an angry adult shakes a baby, the child may suffer brain damage, broken ribs, deafness, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, coma, or death. Often there are personal, ethical, and legal consequences as well for everyone involved. The Shaken Baby Syndrome: A Multidisciplinary Approach is the first book to cover the full spectrum of shaken baby syndrome (SBS), from public health implications to prosecution. Because SBS causes so much damage and has so many implications, every case requires the cooperation of a team of professionals ranging from ophthalmologists to attorneys. The Shaken Baby Syndrome: A Multidisciplinary Approach will help you understand what responsibilities each member of the SBS team has, thus enabling you to work together more productively. The more smoothly the team works, the better the results for the child are likely to be. The Shaken Baby Syndrome: A Multidisciplinary Approach offers expert information and advice on every aspect of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up, including: who shakes babies and why they do it what biomechanical effects occur when a child is shaken what symptoms and signs various medical specialists--radiographers, ophthalmologists, neurologists, pathologists--should look for in potential cases of SBS how medical social workers should approach cases of suspected SBS how police can most effectively investigate SBS how to prosecute SBS perpetrators how educators, public health workers, counselors, and social workers can prevent SBS This comprehensive reference is essential for anyone who encounters SBS, including emergency room personnel, physicians, nurses, social workers, police officers, attorneys, and child care workers. Every year thousands of babies are shaken badly enough to cause damage. The Shaken Baby Syndrome: A Multidisciplinary Approach offers the information you need to help those children.

Finalist in the Professional Books category of the 2018 Nursery World Awards. This accessible guide shows early years professionals how to create safe, supportive environments for young children who have encountered adverse childhood experiences. Explaining the impact of trauma on young brains, it gives practical instructions on how to recognise and respond to abuse. These instructions are supported by exercises, case studies, and reflection points that help you identify and improve your methods. Current legislation, policy and procedure are clarified in clear, concise language, providing you with everything you'll need to work with your team towards a happier, safer future for the children in your care.

Stop abuse before it starts Identifying Child Molesters: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of the Offenders will teach you to better protect children from potential child sexual molesters long before any abuse can actually occur. Here you'll learn to recognize and understand the seemingly invisible steps that typically precede child sexual abuse. These stories of molesters, their families, and their victims, will enable you to more accurately see through a potential molester's charming demeanor and better protect the children in your life. Understanding the behavior that molesters often exhibit when trying to obtain access to children is essential to protecting children from their advances. By becoming familiar with this terrain you will find the courage and strength to decide what must be done, and the skills to follow through with the necessary actions. Such responses will appropriately curtail an offender's access to children and subsequent opportunities to molest.Identifying Child Molesters will teach you: how to recognize those who might molest how molesters typically 'charm'adults how societal attitudes help to foster child sexual abuse what to do when encountering a potential molester what physical and emotional damage molestation can cause to victims how to graciously avoid potentially dangerous situationsIdentifying Child Molesters: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of the Offenders clearly spells out the techniques that child sexual molesters so successfully use to charm adults into giving them access to children. When these strategies are seen and understood, adults can take much more direct responsibility for preventing child sexual abuse than was previously possible.Anyone who lives or works with children needs to own this book. The information you'll encounter in Identifying Child Molesters might startle you, but it might also help you save the life of a child

The Sunday Times and Irish Times bestseller, as featured in the Sunday Independent 'You're all fallen women. You've sowed the seed of Satan. You are nothing.' Mary Creighton was just 15 when she found herself pregnant out of wedlock, in 1960s Ireland. She dreamed of a happy life with her child, but that was shattered when she was sent away to Castlepollard - a home for mothers and their unborn babies. Stripped of their clothes and forced into gruelling work whilst pregnant, those who survived childbirth were made to force-feed their children for adoption into wealthy families. Babies were ripped out of their mother's hands, but Mary refused to let that happen to her. She managed to escape only to later lose her beautiful daughter to social services and the Sacred Heart nuns, who always managed to catch up with her. After spending time in an infamous Magdalene Laundry, and having another two children snatched away, Mary sought to find her lost children, and demand answers for the atrocities committed supposedly in God's name. This is a haunting account of a mother's worst nightmare, as Mary continues to fight for justice for the mothers who suffered and the babies of Castlepollard: hundreds of which died and are still buried in the grounds today.

In her previous book,Hackney Child, Hope Daniels told her powerful story of survival as a child of alcoholic parents. In Tainted Love, she brings together the stories of some of the kids who lived with her in children's homes - kids who fought against the odds in their struggle to find love. We meet Robert, who tries to protect his mum from the brutal rages of his drunken father - but he's only eight and he is powerless to stop the violence. There's Debbie and her sister, who are placed at the mercy of a paedophile babysitter with their mum's approval, and Abby, who shaves her head, cuts her arms, and rages against the system.These and many other true stories tells of lives fractured, endured and, in most cases, saved and turned around by social workers who fight impossible workloads to bring security and safety to children who live in chaos. Hope Daniels now advises government bodies on the care and fostering of children.

'This book will often hurt. It will make you angry, it will make you feel. My hope is that this hurt, this anger and these feelings will move you to change the way we talk about surviving sexual violence.' Sexual violence is an epidemic happening across all intersections of society, impacting every one of us. In the aftermath of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, a cultural conversation has been ignited about the prevalence, immediate impact and long-term effects that sexual violence has on people. It has begun conversations on sexism, misogyny, consent and trauma. From the entertainment industry to governments; from India to the USA, people are beginning to listen to the pain survivors have been living with forever. Writing from her own experiences and those she has met through her podcast and her work as an activist, Catriona Morton will approach topics of consent and education, the mental and physical health of survivors, the cultural shift concerning attitudes surrounding sexual violence, the impact of politics and governmental cuts to survivors in the UK as well as the realities of subjects such as dating and reclaiming sexuality in the aftermath of sexual violence. With unflinching honesty and surprising moments of humour, Catriona wants to change the narrative around survivors, and to force us to reconsider the ways in which we talk about surviving sexual violence.

Education, Exclusion and Citizenship provides a hard-hitting account of the realities of exclusion, examining the behaviour which typically results in exclusion, and asks questions about a society which communally neglects those most in need.
Permanent exclusions from schools continue to rise. As schools compete with neighbouring schools for 'good' pupils, managers and heads are choosing to exclude disruptive pupils who might affect school image.
The book looks at the experience of excluded children, the law regulating exclusion, the obligations of the LEAs, and focuses on prevention and early intervention strategies.

The state is increasingly experienced as both intrusive and neglectful, particularly by those living in poverty, leading to loss of trust and widespread feelings of alienation and disconnection. Against this tense background, this innovative book argues that child protection policies and practices have become part of the problem, rather than ensuring children's well-being and safety. Building on the ideas in the best-selling Re-imagining child protection and drawing together a wide range of social theorists and disciplines, the book: * Challenges existing notions of child protection, revealing their limits; * Ensures that the harms children and families experience are explored in a way that acknowledges the social and economic contexts in which they live; * Explains how the protective capacities within families and communities can be mobilised and practices of co-production adopted; * Places ethics and human rights at the centre of everyday conversations and practices.

At a time when the nation is focused on devising new responses to street crime and on reforming the juvenile justice system, this book brings together in a single volume, current and emerging perspectives on the control of crime by and against children and youth. Young Victims, Young Offenders provides you with an overview of established and emerging practices in treating juvenile offenders and adults who prey on children and youth.This book explores the nature and causes of criminal offenses committed by and against juveniles. While children and youth show up statistically as offenders, they also figure disproportionately as victims. The contributing authors consider both of these aspects as they discuss current programs for the treatment of youths who commit or are victimized by criminal offenses.Topics of a wide range are addressed in Young Victims, Young Offenders for people--like you-- who work with our nation s youth. A sampling of topics includes: How states address child maltreatment through reporting laws and special courtroom procedures Associations between selected psychosocial variables and chronic delinquency Implications of mandatory Child Abuse Reporting Laws on treating offenders The success of diversion during a 20-year period in a youth service bureau Clinical techniques in the treatment of juvenile sex offenders A study on the effectiveness of an intervention program in Iowa for youthful offendersThis book is useful for the pre-service student pursuing course work in juvenile delinquency, correctional counseling, probation, parole, and social work. At the in-service level, correctional counselors, probation officers, parole officers, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, correctional administrators, and child care workers can find much to challenge and enhance their effectiveness in their work with young victims and offenders.

This book discusses principles and strategies that practitioners can use to guide their work. These include engaging parents of children in placement, mapping family resources, mobilizing networks, and creating safety plans.

A Sunday Times bestseller, Terrified is the first book from well-loved foster carer Angela Hart. It tells the emotionally devastating but ultimately uplifting true story of Vicky, a little girl who arrives on Angela's doorstep unwanted and unloved after suffering years of emotional abuse at the hands of her mother. Desperate never to return home, Vicky is haunted by many demons and waking nightmares. This book tells the moving story of Angela's determination to set Vicky free. 'A no holds barred insight into the reality of looking after someone else's children. A remarkable story from a remarkable woman, it brought back a lot of memories for me.' - Casey Watson, author of A Dark Secret. 'A moving story that testifies to the redemptive power of love. I hope Angela Hart inspires many others to foster.' - Torey Hayden, author of Lost Child.

Casey's Unit is, as ever, full of troubled, disaffected pupils, and new arrival Leo is something of a conundrum. Thirteen year old Leo isn't a bad lad - in fact, he's generally polite and helpful, but he's in danger of permanent exclusion for repeatedly absconding and unauthorised absences. Despite letters being sent home regularly, his mother never turns up for any appointments, and when the school calls home she always seems to have an excuse. Though Casey has her hands full, she offers to intervene for a while, to try get Leo engaged in learning again and remaining in school. The head's sceptical though and warns her that this is Leo's very last chance. But Casey's determined, because there's something about Leo that makes her want to fight his corner, and get to the bottom of whatever it is that compels this enigmatic boy to keep running away. With Leo so resolutely tight-lipped and secretive, Casey knows that if she's going to keep this child in education, she's going to have to get to the bottom of it herself...

The first in a series of books from foster carer Casey Watson.

We re hungry, his brother cried. We re hungry, Justin. Please find us some food.

Justin was five years old; his brothers two and three. Their mother, a heroin addict, had left them alone again. Later that day, after trying to burn down the family home, Justin was taken into care.

Justin was taken into care at the age of five after deliberately burning down his family home. Six years on, after 20 failed placements, Justin arrives at Casey s home. Casey and her husband Mike are specialist foster carers. They practice a new style of foster care that focuses on modifying the behaviour of profoundly damaged children. They are Justin s last hope, and it quickly becomes clear that they are facing a big challenge.

Try as they might to make him welcome, he seems determined to strip his life of all the comforts they bring him, violently lashing out at schoolmates and family and throwing any affection they offer him back in their faces. After a childhood filled with hurt and rejection, Justin simply doesn t want to know. But, as it soon emerges, this is only the tip of a chilling iceberg.

A visit to Justin s mother on Boxing Day reveals that there are some very dark underlying problems that Justin has never spoken about. As the full picture becomes clearer, and the horrific truth of Justin s early life is revealed, Casey and her family finally start to understand the pain he has suffered "

This seminal book in the literature of child protective services stimulates critical thinking and informed discussion for those professionals and educators concerned with the quality of children's protective services. The first book of its kind to present scholarly reports on false allegations, Assessing Child Maltreatment Reports tackles the age-old problem of deciding which reports, verbal or written, represent truth and which represent falsehood. When one deals with accusations in the area of child maltreatment, special problems are posed. This vital resource brings home the complexity and seriousness of confronting the need to separate true reports from false reports. Given the serious consequences of reports of maltreatment, determining the accuracy or inaccuracy of such reports is of major critical importance to all concerned and the parents, children, and professionals directly involved. This book deals effectively and practically with the everyday work of assessing the validity and reliability of maltreatment reports and guides professionals through rough waters of finding truth with helpful research.This courageous book provides hope for establishing a deeper understanding of the broad system of child protection and consequently, enables professionals to better handle individual crises and cases. Containing a range of chapters--authored by leading academic researchers and practitioners in child welfare services in the United States--which examine the policy and practice issues related to false allegations of child abuse and neglect, this volume provides guideposts for further research and discussion. College and university students in child welfare and related programs, human service practitioners working in child protective and welfare services, and the larger public--both parents and professionals working with children--who have an interest in this important issue, will find Assessing Child Maltreatment Reports a compassionate approach to a sensitive issue.

Moral Crusades in an Age of Mistrust examines the sociological meaning of the sudden transformation of Jimmy Savile, the cultural icon, into the personification of evil. The epidemic of scandals unleashed by the Savile Scandal highlights the precarious status of relations of trust. The rapid escalation of this crisis offers insights into the relationship between anxieties about childhood and the wider moral order. This exploration of the emergence of a moral crusade explains why western society has become so uncomfortable with the exercise of authority. This is a work of public sociology that seeks to explore the social dimensions of a cultural drama as it unfolds. Through situating this scandal in a wider historical perspective this study outlines the distinctive features of a 21st century moral crusade.

A CHILD CALLED 'IT' is Dave Pelzer's story of a child beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. Dave was no longer considered a son, or a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement and when he was allowed food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. Throughout, Dave kept alive the dream of finding a family who would love and care for him. THE LOST BOY: the harrowing but ultimately uplifting true story of Dave's journey through the foster-care system in search of a family who will love him. A MAN NAMED DAVE: the gripping conclusion to this inspirational trilogy. With extraordinary generosity of spirit, Dave takes us on a journey into his past. At last he confronts his father and ultimately his mother. Finally, Dave finds the courage to break the chains of the past and learn to love, trust and live for the future.

In her new book, Cathy Glass, the no.1 bestselling author of Damaged, tells the story of the Alice, a young and vulnerable girl who is desperate to return home to her mother.

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."

A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2015 A Boston Globe Best Book of 2015 A brilliant, disturbing portrait of the dawn of the culture wars, when America started to tear itself apart with doubts, wild allegations, and an unfounded fear for the safety of children.During the 1980s in California, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, and elsewhere, day care workers were arrested, charged, tried, and convicted of committing horrible sexual crimes against the children they cared for. These crimes, social workers and prosecutors said, had gone undetected for years, and they consisted of a brutality and sadism that defied all imagining. The dangers of babysitting services and day care centres became a national news media fixation. Of the many hundreds of people who were investigated in connection with day care and ritual abuse cases around the country, some 190 were formally charged with crimes, leading to more than 80 convictions.It would take years for people to realize what the defendants had said all along,that these prosecutions were the product of a decade-long outbreak of collective hysteria on par with the Salem witch trials. Social workers and detectives employed coercive interviewing techniques that led children to tell them what they wanted to hear. Local and national journalists fanned the flames by promoting the stories'salacious aspects, while aggressive prosecutors sought to make their careers by unearthing an unspeakable evil where parents feared it most.Using extensive archival research and drawing on dozens of interviews conducted with the hysteria's major figures, n+1 editor Richard Beck shows how a group of legislators, doctors, lawyers, and parents,most working with the best of intentions,set the stage for a cultural disaster. The climate of fear that surrounded these cases influenced a whole series of arguments about women, children, and sex. It also drove a right-wing cultural resurgence that, in many respects, continues to this day.

The Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller. Although Jodie is only eight years old, she is violent, aggressive, and has already been through numerous foster families. Her last hope is Cathy Glass

Cathy, an experienced foster carer, is pressured into taking Jodie as a new placement. Jodie's challenging behaviour has seen off five carers in four months but Cathy decides to take her on to protect her from being placed in an institution.

Jodie arrives, and her first act is to soil herself, and then wipe it on her face, grinning wickedly. Jodie meets Cathy's teenage children, and greets them with a sharp kick to the shins. That night, Cathy finds Jodie covered in blood, having cut her own wrist, and smeared the blood over her face.

As Jodie begins to trust Cathy her behaviour improves. Over time, with childish honesty, she reveals details of her abuse at the hands of her parents and others. It becomes clear that Jodie's parents were involved in a sickening paedophile ring, with neighbours and Social Services not seeing what should have been obvious signs.

It s clear that Josie needs psychiatric therapy, but instead Social Services take Jodie away from her, and place her in a residential unit. Although the paedophile ring is investigated and brought to justice, Jodie s future is still up in the air. Cathy promises that she will stand by her no matter what her love for the abandoned Jodie is unbreakable."

In her latest paperback, the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling 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.

During the first night, Cathy awoke to see Dawn looming above Cathy s baby s cot, her eyes staring and blank. She sleepwalks which Cathy learns is often a manifestation in disturbed children. It becomes a regular and frightening occurrence, and Cathy is horrified to find Dawn lighting a match whilst mumbling it s not my fault in her sleep one night.

Cathy discovers Dawn is playing truant from school, and struggling to make friends. More worryingly she finds her room empty one night, and her pillow covered in blood. Dawn has been self-harming in order to release the pain of her past.

When Dawn attempts suicide, Cathy realises that she needs more help than she can give. Dawn s mother eventually confides in her that Dawn was sent away to live with relatives in Ireland between the ages of 5 and 9, and Cathy soon realises that the horrors Dawn was exposed to during this time have left her a very disturbed little girl."