Dimensions
129 x 198 x 20mm
In 2004, Casey Watson and her family made a decision. With their two children now grown, she and her husband wanted to do something more fulfilling. So she trained as specialist treatment foster carers - preparing to take on children who were so profoundly damaged that mainstream foster care had failed them; children for whom, often, the only alternative was to spend the rest of their childhood in a secure unit. And the Watsons were thrown in at the deep end. Mere hours after returning home from the last day of her old job, Casey was asked to consider taking her first child. And so she was introduced to Justin. Justin arrives at the Watson's house a fortnight before Christmas and it quickly becomes clear 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 and throw any affection they offer back in their faces. After a childhood filled with hurt and rejection, Justin simply doesn't want to know. But it soon emerges that this is only the tip of a chilling iceberg. As a visit to Justin's mother on Boxing Day reveals, 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 abuse he has endured and the pain he has suffered. And little by little Casey is able to make a connection and help him start to rebuild his life.
