Damaged : the heartbreaking true story of a forgotten child

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. At the Social Services office, 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. Despite her reservations, Cathy decides to accept Jodie 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. Unfortunately Jodie becomes increasingly withdrawn, and it's clear she needs psychiatric therapy. Cathy urges the Social Services to provide funding, but instead they decide to 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. The author had fostered fifty children over twenty years but none of them had been as disturbed as Jodie, a troubled eight-year-old whose violence and aggression had seen off five foster carers in just four months. When Jodie arrived, the author had no idea what lay beneath Jodie's shocking behaviour, which included smearing feces all over the house, erupting into violent rages and even cutting herself. Little by little, as Jodie's rage was met with patience and understanding, she began to trust, and to confide the dreadful background which had led to her present torment. Jodie's childhood had been an appalling litany of mistreatment and neglect, which should have alerted the numerous social work professionals involved with her case. Jodie's case file was so big it filled two suitcases, but apparently not one of her social workers had ever read the entire file. If they had, Jodie's story and her future might have been very different. Finally, Jodie found one adult worthy of her trust, one who could help her begin the process of recovery Damaged is the true story of the relationship between Jodie and her foster mother, Cathy Glass. Jodie, a troubled eight-year old, was the most disturbed and abused child Glass had ever taken care of. In Cathy, Jodie found the one adult worthy of her trust, one who could help her begin the process of recovery