Thrown Away Child
Regular price
€16.99
A brutal foster mother.
A child's courage.
A story of survival.
A foster home should be a refuge for children with a troubled start in life, but this was not the case for Louise Allen.
Born to a teenage mother in the late 1960s, she is placed in an isolated house where her foster mother, Barbara, inflicts a brutal regime of starvation and punishment upon her. Suffering atrocious neglect, Louise is at the mercy of predatory, sadistic neighbour Kevin, while Barbara's husband turns a blind eye and social workers seem not to notice.
Somehow Louise finds a way to survive, taking comfort in scraps of food handed to her by the travellers who live on a nearby caravan site. She develops a talent for art but the cruel Barbara is intent on ruining the one thing that gives her hope. When Louise finally realises how disturbed her family is, she finds the courage to change her destiny. It will be an uphill struggle that will almost kill her.
A heartbreaking story of neglect and cruelty and how one little girl's imagination helped her to survive and even forgive.
A child's courage.
A story of survival.
A foster home should be a refuge for children with a troubled start in life, but this was not the case for Louise Allen.
Born to a teenage mother in the late 1960s, she is placed in an isolated house where her foster mother, Barbara, inflicts a brutal regime of starvation and punishment upon her. Suffering atrocious neglect, Louise is at the mercy of predatory, sadistic neighbour Kevin, while Barbara's husband turns a blind eye and social workers seem not to notice.
Somehow Louise finds a way to survive, taking comfort in scraps of food handed to her by the travellers who live on a nearby caravan site. She develops a talent for art but the cruel Barbara is intent on ruining the one thing that gives her hope. When Louise finally realises how disturbed her family is, she finds the courage to change her destiny. It will be an uphill struggle that will almost kill her.
A heartbreaking story of neglect and cruelty and how one little girl's imagination helped her to survive and even forgive.
Louise Allen was a foster child who underwent an unspeakably tough childhood with cruel foster parents in the 1970s who then adopted her and continued the abuse. She managed to escape at the age of fifteen but found herself in a new city with no money, no friends or family. Eventually her skills in painting and drawing – as well as her determination not to let her childhood define her – helped her forge a healthy adult life. She firmly believes that there is hope for all children who have been abused and that children who experience trauma can go on to have good lives. Now happily married with her own children, she also fosters children and works hard doing what she can to right the wrongs still being perpetrated against foster children. She has appeared on BBC's Front Row, Saturday Live, That's Life, Loose Women and This Morning. Her bestselling memoir, Thrown Away Child, was the start of her work as a campaigner for the rights of children in care. This led to a further book series, the Sunday Times bestselling Thrown Away Children titles, which tells the stories of some of the children she has fostered and their often heartbreaking pasts. Her guide to adoption, How to Adopt a Child, was published in 2021, and a new series exposing the County Lines tragedy, Slave Girls, is forthcoming in 2025. Louise is the founder of the charity Spark Sisterhood which creates employment pathways, mentoring programmes, community and an online learning platform for girls in – and leaving – care. For more information, to donate or volunteer, please visit www.sparksisterhood.org.