This is a true life story by Tricia Merry, who along with her husband fostered hundreds of children.
This story is about 4 children who suddenly came into their lives late one night. They couple had 3 grown up adopted children, were grandparents, and had retired from fostering, apart for one older almost grown up girl who was by now only with them at weekends.
These children had suffered the worst neglect, abuse and betrayal imaginable. Not only from their parents, particularly their mother, but social services and all the agencies supposed to help them.
The children originally came for one week as an emergency, and ended up staying. It took a long, long time for all the details of the children's lives to come out. The foster carers were kept in the dark at every turn.
What the couple achieved and endured is amazing.
I don't want to give any more of the plot away, as I am sure many of you would enjoy reading this book.
This is the Amazon description -
At eleven o' clock one night in 1997, four hungry, damaged young children arrive on foster carers Trisha and Mike Merry's doorstep. Two social workers dropped them off with nothing but the ragged clothes they were wearing and no information. The children were covered in bruises, two had black eyes, one had a broken arm and they were all scratching themselves.
Starved, seriously neglected and abused in every way, four young siblings have been repeatedly overlooked by everyone who should have cared. The eldest scavenges for food by night and is exhausted from trying to protect his sisters, his baby brother and himself from serious parental neglect and the perilous attentions of frequent paedophile visitors.
From the start, these four children challenge Trisha and Mike to extremes. Despite all their experience over many years, they wonder if they have met their match. Yet, from that very first night, this couple's unbounded love and care and their unbelievable determination surmount all the obstacles that follow. The shocking truth about the children's home lives is beyond anything Trish and Mike have experienced, yet through their formidable efforts, their unshakeable belief in the children, and their (almost) unfailing sense of humour, they are able to turn around four young lives from tragedy to hope.
This story is about 4 children who suddenly came into their lives late one night. They couple had 3 grown up adopted children, were grandparents, and had retired from fostering, apart for one older almost grown up girl who was by now only with them at weekends.
These children had suffered the worst neglect, abuse and betrayal imaginable. Not only from their parents, particularly their mother, but social services and all the agencies supposed to help them.
The children originally came for one week as an emergency, and ended up staying. It took a long, long time for all the details of the children's lives to come out. The foster carers were kept in the dark at every turn.
What the couple achieved and endured is amazing.
I don't want to give any more of the plot away, as I am sure many of you would enjoy reading this book.
This is the Amazon description -
At eleven o' clock one night in 1997, four hungry, damaged young children arrive on foster carers Trisha and Mike Merry's doorstep. Two social workers dropped them off with nothing but the ragged clothes they were wearing and no information. The children were covered in bruises, two had black eyes, one had a broken arm and they were all scratching themselves.
Starved, seriously neglected and abused in every way, four young siblings have been repeatedly overlooked by everyone who should have cared. The eldest scavenges for food by night and is exhausted from trying to protect his sisters, his baby brother and himself from serious parental neglect and the perilous attentions of frequent paedophile visitors.
From the start, these four children challenge Trisha and Mike to extremes. Despite all their experience over many years, they wonder if they have met their match. Yet, from that very first night, this couple's unbounded love and care and their unbelievable determination surmount all the obstacles that follow. The shocking truth about the children's home lives is beyond anything Trish and Mike have experienced, yet through their formidable efforts, their unshakeable belief in the children, and their (almost) unfailing sense of humour, they are able to turn around four young lives from tragedy to hope.
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