The bestselling author of Damaged tells the true story of Donna,
who came into foster care aged ten, having been abused, victimised
and rejected by her family. Donna had been in foster care with her
two young brothers for three weeks when she is abruptly moved to
Cathy's. When Donna arrives she is silent, withdrawn and walks
with her shoulders hunched forward and her head down. Donna is
clearly a very haunted child and refuses to interact with
Cathy's children Adrian and Paula. After patience and
encouragement from Cathy, Donna slowly starts to talk and tells
Cathy that she blames herself for her and her brothers being placed
in care. The social services were aware that Donna and her brothers
had been neglected by their alcoholic mother, but no one realised
the extent of the abuse they were forced to suffer. The truth of
the physical torment she was put through slowly emerges, and as
Donna grows to trust Cathy she tells her how her mother used to
make her wash herself with wire wool so that she could get rid of
her skin colour as her mother was so ashamed that Donna was mixed
race. The psychological wounds caused by the bullying she received
also start to resurface when Donna starts reenacting the ways she
was treated at home by hitting and bullying Paula, so much so that
Cathy can't let Donna out of her sight. As the pressure begins
to mount on Cathy to help this child, things start to get worse and
Donna begins behaving in erratic ways, trashing her bedroom and
being regularly abusive towards Cathy's children. Cathy begins
to wonder if she can find a way to help this child or if
Donna's scars run too deep.
Cathy has been a foster carer for over 20 years, during which time she has looked after more than 70 children, of all ages and backgrounds. Cathy runs training courses on fostering for her local Social Services, and helps draft new fostering procedures and guidelines. She has three teenage children of her own; one of whom was adopted after a long-term foster placement. The name Cathy Glass is a pseudonym.
