Angels in Our Hearts: A moving collection of true fostering stories

Angels in Our Hearts: A moving collection of true fostering stories
Casey Watson

Rosie Lewis

A moving collection of 6 short stories – Helpless, A Small Boy’s Cry, Two More Sleeps, Unexpected, Just a Boy and At Risk – previously available as individual e-shorts.A collection of inspiring and emotive real-life short stories from foster carers Casey Watson and Rosie Lewis.Sarah, a baby born to a crack-addicted mother on a freezing cold night in December.Charlie, who fell from the second-floor window of his tower block home while his mother is busy shooting up in their dirty council flat.Angell, left barely clothed beneath a park bench on a freezing cold day in winter.Hope, abandoned as a new-born by a young woman traumatised by a dark secret.Cameron, a sweet boy with a great sense of humour, who disappears after a disastrous and embarrassing family trip.Adam, a fragile and anxious child, whose relationship with his mother starts to unravel.

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Copyright (#u22a501b1-e98f-59a2-856b-c8761f07ca77)

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Helpless first published by HarperElement 2013

A Small Boy’s Cry first published by HarperElement 2014

Two More Sleeps first published by HarperElement 2014

Unexpected first published by HarperElement 2015

Just a Boy first published by HarperElement 2013

At Risk first published by HarperElement 2016

This edition HarperElement 2019

FIRST EDITION

© Rosie Lewis 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019

© Casey Watson 2013, 2016, 2019

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Cover photograph © Plainpicture/Dombrowski (posed by model)

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Rosie Lewis and Casey Watson assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Source ISBN: 9780008305956

Ebook Edition © January 2019 ISBN: 9780008305963

Version: 2018-11-29

Contents

Cover (#ubc4e06a7-56ba-53b6-b580-9393da302c6d)

Title Page (#ub03c3a62-1331-5f6e-8c00-aa2d209659b9)

Copyright (#u7c9e0dea-5782-5880-b922-6067162f3470)

Introduction by Casey Watson (#uba5b976a-c79b-5078-bc22-400da3ecbad5)

Dedication (#u0326773e-c737-5bdd-aac1-913c19f09be3)

Helpless (#u8c31b229-d0f8-5980-820b-0d9663e57e81)

A Small Boy’s Cry (#uce953b94-e61c-587f-957b-e6789466a57a)

Two More Sleeps (#litres_trial_promo)

Unexpected (#litres_trial_promo)

Introduction by Rosie Lewis (#litres_trial_promo)

Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)

Just a Boy (#litres_trial_promo)

At Risk (#litres_trial_promo)

Also Available (#litres_trial_promo)

Moving Memoirs eNewsetter (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Introduction by Casey Watson (#u22a501b1-e98f-59a2-856b-c8761f07ca77)

It is such an honour to be able to share these pages with fellow foster carer and author, Rosie Lewis. Not only are her stories inspiring for you all to read, but they continue to inspire me. As a carer for many years I know that all children are very different and come from very different backgrounds, so there are no hard and set rules for looking after them. Fostering can often seem like an isolating job, and there are days when you feel that you’ve emptied your tool box and have nothing left to work with. These moments, thankfully, are fleeting, and somewhere, from the depths of our hearts, we always manage to find some clarity – and then it’s sleeves rolled up and business as usual.

Reading Rosie’s stories makes me realise that although all the children may be different, the trials and tribulations of fostering are universal. We love, we nurture and we try to find the key to a child’s happiness – or at least the key that unlocks their demons – and then we can try help to break them down and pave the way to the future. What is similar about Rosie and myself is that we both understand what a rollercoaster our career choice has been, but we take the knocks, the red tape and the teenage angst in our stride and we try to see the lighter side. I’m certain that Rosie would agree with me that sometimes, if we didn’t laugh, we would cry – but this only serves to make us stronger.