Groomed: Danger lies closer than you think
By (Author) Casey Watson
HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins
13th October 2017
5th October 2017
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
True stories of heroism, endurance and survival
Adoption and fostering
362.733092
Paperback
320
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 19mm
220g
Its late on Friday night when Caseys mobile starts to ring. She is expecting it to be her daughter Riley. But it isnt Riley. Its a woman from the Emergency Duty Team. So begins Casey and Mikes latest fostering challenge a fifteen-year-old girl called Keeley whos run away from her long-term foster home 25 miles away.
The Jonathan Ross Show has just started when Casey gets the call. She thinks it will be Riley telling her that her favourite actor is going to be on TV. But its something far more urgent: a fifteen-year-old girl who has run away from her foster family and accused her foster father of sexual abuse. The family deny in vehemently, but such an allegation can never be taken lightly, so a new home must be found for Keeley.
Keeley is polite, but shes sharp, and she has all the hallmarks of a child who has been in the system a long time, and knows how to play it. Whether the allegation is true or not, Casey knows there will be no winners here. If it is true, then a young girls life has been torn asunder. If not, then the heartache for the family will only be surpassed by the bleak outlook for Keeley.
In the short term, its a case of providing a safe, supportive home for a vulnerable child. But with the dangerous world of the internet at her disposal, it seems this strong-minded youngster has her own ideas of where that safe place should be
Casey Watson, who writes under a pseudonym, is a specialist foster carer. She and her husband, Mike, look after children who are particularly troubled or damaged by their past. While in their care, Casey and Mike guide the foster children through a specially designed behavioural programme, enabling them to be moved on, either back to their parents on into mainstream foster care. Before becoming a foster carer Casey was a behaviour manager for her local comprehensive school. It was through working with these difficult children removed from mainstream classes for various reasons that the idea for her future career was born. Casey is married with two children and three grandchildren.