Are we now living in the age of Full Disclosure when everything is revealed about what people do to each other, the real truth about what human beings are? When it comes to dresses being paraded with presidential semen stains still upon them, or the latest youtube viral video horrors, you may think so. But - although it seems we have reached a plateau I think there is a way to go. The misery memoir, of which A Boy Called It is the ur-text, is a step along the way. Misery memoirs - my Waterstone' More...

This book it is kind of hard to describe how it made me feel....Mad, sad. How could any system just kind of look over things like this. Out of all the books I have read on this subject matter, this has touched beyond belief. I understand a little more about post tramatic disorder because of it though. I don't want to spoil it for anyone just think anyone that can handle reading such descriptive accounts of abuse should read it. I do like the writing style and the author makes you feel the pain o More...

Damaged
Cathy Glass
True Story
309 pages
copyright: 2006
isbn: 978-0-00-723634-3

Cathy Glasshad fostered fifty children over twenty years but none of themn 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, Cathy had no idea what lay beneath Jodie's shocking behaviour, which included smearing faces all over the house, erupting into violent rages and even cutting herself. Little by little, as J More...

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Mais uma vez a minha mãe...

História verdadeiramente comovente, dramática, revoltante e gritante. Como é possível que estando esta criança sinalizada na Comissão de menores em risco ninguém durante 8 ANOS, 8 ANOS terem feito nada??????????!!!!!!!!! Seres humanos sem coração!

Menina violada desde que nasceu. Desde os pais, aos tios, aos avós. Desde coito a utilização de objetos... Como é possível o marasmo a indiferença com que trataram este ser humano?!

É mínimo chocante, gritante.

A palavra perfei More...

I read this book pretty quickly as I couldn't put it down. This is a disturbing story to read. I am sometimes asked why I read such "deep" books. I have always had an interest in troubled, needy children/teenagers; the way the brain functions just fascinates me. I always find the books such a wealth of information when dealing with children with difficult pasts. I will say that this story and its details was very difficult for me to read, in relation to this young child and what she has endured. More...

You'll like the picture on the book cover of the pretty little girl; then you'll notice the tear
on her cheek. Cathy Glass has fostered over 50 children but this story of Jodie may be her hardest. Jodie comes to Cathy to be fostered when she's eight years old; already many foster parents have given up on her; some as quickly as in one day. She smears feces all over, has violent outbursts & kicks Cathy's three older children. She gets withdrawn & doesn't respond to anyone or anything; she More...

I downloaded this as a sample from Amazon. I decided not to proceed with the purchase. It is too similar to the job I do for me to want to read the full book. I think I need to get out of my 'fostering head' when I read at this moment in time.

Based on the sample, it is an easy read and gives the reader a realistic peek into the world of fostering and the processes of care in the social services environment. The short passage I read raised questions around confidentiality and concerns regarding More...

I am not sure of any other way to rate this book.

This book is about a girl named, Jodi, who enters the foster care system at the age of 7. Within 4mo she has already been through 5 foster homes. There is little hope for her, until Cathy steps up and agrees to take Jodi in.

When Jodi first enters Cathy's home she is very violent and rude. In fact, over the year that she is with Cathy that never completely goes away and as time goes on we start to see other disturbing behaviours from Jodi.

We will a More...

This is the 'first' (as in the first written, not chronologically) book by foster carer Cathy Glass, and of the three I have read so far this is by far the most harrowing.

The story concerns an eight year old girl named Jodie, who has come into Cathy's care after being kicked out of 5 other foster homes in four months. She is an extremely disturbed child, and we don't fully begin to understand the reasons for this disturbance until some way into the book, when she begins to disclose the horrors o More...

Though not eloquent, Glass's writing is sensitive and solid. The sheer depth of the experience is the crown of this book. I couldn't put it down. I was desperate to read Glass's conclusion, for better or worse.

The chronology is tight and thorough, fulfilling the reader's need for detail. Glass exposes her experience honestly, which allows us to inhabit her home during her tumultuous time with "Jodie," the abused child in her care.

On the downside, Glass made it almost too clear her strong feeling More...

Writing was so-so... I think that there are better stories of the realities of being a foster parent. This felt more like "LOOK AT ALL THESE TERRIBLE THINGS! LOOK HOW BAD THE SYSTEM IS! LOOK HOW DAMAGED THESE CHILDREN ARE!"

Why this story? Why these events? Plus, disassociative identity disorder is highly controversial, and I found the portrayl to be quite stereotypical, as if based on a movie or Wikipedia entry. I also strongly disliked the discrimination towards people with disabilities that r More...

Sometimes the system fails and when it does, it’s catastrophic. Damaged by Cathy Glass is the story of one such failure and the little girl involved, Jodie. Cathy is a carer, the English equivalent of a foster parent, with twenty years of experience. Jodie comes to live with Cathy when she is just under eight-years-old and while there makes a series of startling revelations to Cathy. The first thirty pages or so are back story, but keep reading, it’s well worth your time.

Damaged is the true stor More...

I would give this an almost four. I had never heard of Cathy Glass until I became a member on Goodreads. Cathy Glass was recommended to me. I thought i would give one of her books a try. "Damaged" is the first book written by Cathy Glass. she is a foster care provider in England. Cathy had been a "carer" for 20 years when she was called and asked to take in a girl named "Jodie". the girl was eight years old and had been in foster care for a few months, she was such a difficult case she had been More...

I decided to read this book because anything that has to due with psychological issues is an interest to me so I'm usually drawn to books about it. As you can see from the description, this book is about a foster mom named Cathy, who takes in a very disturbed child that has very unusual and bad behavior. Jodie is 8 years old but doesn't have the mentality of an 8 year old at all. Her learning and motor skills aren't developed, and she is very violent towards herself and others. This is all due t More...

Cathy Glass is a foster mother with a lot of experience taking care of hurt and neglected children. When she consents to take Jodie into her care she is shaken by how deeply troubled she is. Jodie’s tantrums range from cursing and kicking to multiple personalities, the level of abuse she experienced is beyond what most people can imagine. This book can be hard to read at times but Cathy’s strength and her dedication to helping this child is impressive, it held a lot of good ideas and lessons abo More...

This was a very good retelling of a terrible case of child abuse, one that was so big that it apparently filled two suitcases.

Jodie was a severely disturbed eight year old girl that came under the wing of Cathy Glass, who thought that no matter what the trauma, all children need is love, sympathy, attention, and time to heal. But this quickly didn't become the case for Jodie.

She was a violent, loud, vulgar, detached, outspoken, and defiant little girl, with a personality you would see with someo More...

This book was so easy, yet so hard to read.
The writing flows well and isn't too intricate, but the material it covers makes it incredibly hard to read without feeling completely upset or disgusted.

This true story follows the life of Jodie, a troubled girl with a terrible past - but is shown through the eyes of her Carer. This, to me, was quite refreshing. When reading books of this nature I have generally only read from the point of view of the child, so this new perspective was very interesting More...

I read this book thinking that it would be a lot like a Child called it. And it isn't. It was heart wrenching and I found myself hating the little girl despite everything she's been through and I kind of felt that Cathy was championed for being so caring when she did so much wrong. She did so much wrong and she smissed so much. Of course she wasn't the only one it seems when it came to the little girl everyone missed a lot which is so sad, and really lets people know the horrors of the foster ca More...

Took me 1 day to read. I couldnt put it down. The story is both horrific and yet heart warming at the same time. We need more people like cathy in the world. It really touched me and I even cried.

This book was one that really tugged at my heart strings. As someone that has worked in a group home and have known teens and adults with behavior issues I could relate in some ways. I cannot even imagine fostering a child with such needs, but knowing you still were able to reach them in some ways. It was a wonderful book that was so well written.

This is the true story of an eight year old girl who was severely abused. It is written by her carer (the term for foster parent in England). It is heartbreaking and frustrating to think that this goes on often and the system is so overloaded that often these kids don't get the help, treatment, or escape from their evil environment till it is too late and their phyche and emotional development is changed for the rest of their lives. They never mature in a healthy way...sometimes you just can't More...

I always hate saying that I really liked a book like this. It was an awful, sad, tragic story that made me so angry and made my stomach turn. But it was well written and told a necessary story of a child who went through unspeakable abuse by her parents. Her foster mom, Cathy was so patient and kind and gave so much of herself to the care of Jodie. I admire anyone who could do that. I for one would have found the parents and shot them on sight. Working in an educational setting I think teachers, More...

A little different from other child abuse stories in that it's told by Cathy, the foster carer, as opposed to the child. It's a truly horrific tale, it's sad, it's digusting, it's heart wrenching, and that's when it's told by someone who didn't experience the trauma, only the after effects. If this story was told by Jodie herself, something which I do not believe is possible, then her story, would, undoubtedly, be beyond words.

It's a very moving book, and there is at least some form of closure a More...

Very sad story. I was hoping for a happier ending

A very sad story of this little girl's life. Cathy did all she could to help this child. I was and am very upset, however, with the Social Worker assigned to her case. I feel the Social Worker is in this field purposely to help, and it is her job to help, She is getting paid to help, but she is never available. Always taking a leave of absence. At the very beginning, I found this case to be hopeless. I also felt that, besides the sexual abuse she suffered, she also suffers from Turret's Syndrome More...

This is an excellent book!! It made me extremely angry though to think about what this innocent child had to go through and will continue to go through for the rest of her life. And it makes me even angrier to know that most of it could have been avoided if people would have done their job the right way. It's absolutly awful to know that this is not the first or the last child to be slipped through the cracks. God Bless 'Jodie' and she will forever be in my prayers. Also God Bless 'Cathy' and he More...

The author of this book; Cathy Glass, tells the story about one of the foster children that she raised. It is shocking, heartwarming, and quite a tear trigger. Throughout this book, I had to keep reading to find out how Jodie's life would turn out. Little by little Cathy Glass reveals horrifying details about Jodie's past, and even though up until this point all you knew was that she was a horribly behaved child; you can't help but be able to look past that and see that there is a reason that sh More...

This was a truly heart-breaking, vomit-inducing read. We all know how the courts and child services fail more children than they save but this...I never expected that a child could be overlooked (or ignored, in my honest opinion) for THAT long. I'm not saying that all that work for childrens' services are bad, but it's obvious that the true angels are scarce.

I hate to admit it but until the first sexual inapproptiate act was displayed by the child in question, I had already written her off as br More...

How I stumbled upon this book is still something I can't recall exactly. Maybe I wanted to read non fiction, I am not certain.
While reading the story and repeating to myself over and over that this was a true story, and that this was about a real child, I realized that Jodie is the definition to what the word damaged means. I was very disturbed. It was hard to get through the book and I was shaken afterward. Are there really monsters who do this to children? Their own children? Apparently so.
Cat More...