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Saving Danny
Cathy Glass
The fifteenth fostering memoir by Cathy Glass.Danny was petrified and clung to me in desperation as I carried him to my car. Trapped in his own dark world, he couldn't understand why his parents no longer loved or wanted him, and were sending him away.While Danny’s parents have everything they could wish for in material terms, they are unable to care for their only child. This is where Cathy comes in. On a cold dark evening Danny finds a place in her home where he can be himself; away from his parents’ impatience and frustration. Often in his own little world, six-year-old Danny finds it difficult to communicate, finding solace in his best friend and confidant George – his rabbit.Cathy quickly becomes aware of his obsessively meticulous behaviour in addition to his love of patterns, he sees them everywhere and creates them at any opportunity – in his play and also with his food. She realises that patience is the key to looking after Danny as well as her well-tried strategies for managing children’s behaviour.With his father refusing to cooperate, it becomes increasingly likely that Danny will be living with Cathy permanently until she gets an opportunity to speak her piece.
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Copyright (#u92a58b8a-c776-592a-92a5-87ddec9fcbf7)
Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.
HarperElement
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published by HarperElement 2015
Text Copyright © Cathy Glass 2015
Illustrations Copyright © Nicolette Caven 2015
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015
Cover photograph © Deborah Pendell/Arcangel Images (posed by model)
Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
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
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780008130497
Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780008130503
Version: 2016-08-17
Contents
Cover (#u5bc20ec8-ac55-5ad5-932f-6a3ff5f3b15f)
Title Page (#ulink_530b133e-fd49-5871-9646-1412b5d90c81)
Copyright (#ulink_d882bbda-134c-5e08-8080-f045213a8b45)
Also by Cathy Glass (#ulink_af13ab75-93b3-5a35-ac87-4f0de7e49600)
Acknowledgements (#ulink_e5a9dd44-f908-57cb-ade3-7839bf0e4d10)
Chapter One: Lost and Frightened (#ulink_911ed1bc-cfcc-5a39-86d1-8166bcb67f1b)
Chapter Two: Meticulous (#ulink_3323e775-c38b-5bf7-b470-b0c4b2970af9)
Chapter Three: George (#ulink_1d6c7929-3988-53ed-85c2-a518a5ea1cbf)
Chapter Four: Precise (#ulink_ebbe3876-cd19-5cb2-95d6-286af81b2926)
Chapter Five: Absolute Hell (#ulink_92a3d708-5c8a-505d-87de-349caa8df154)
Chapter Six: Prisoners (#ulink_5f854f06-df8b-5805-b0fb-6477f8aa3526)
Chapter Seven: Crisis Averted (#ulink_495215df-1958-503a-871a-27e6dbc86cb1)
Chapter Eight: A Work of Art (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine: Danny Drowning (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten: Don’t Tell the Social Worker (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven: ‘Carrot Before the Donkey’s Nose’ (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve: Forever? (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen: Cooped Up (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen: Traumatic (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen: Danny’s World (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen: Making Friends (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen: Terri’s Visit (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen: Footprints in the Snow (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen: Love (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty: Important (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One: For the Good of the Child (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two: No Cavity Club (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three: History Repeating Itself? (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four: Significant Development (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five: Stay Calm (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six: Saving Danny (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Another Story … (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Exclusive sample chapter (#litres_trial_promo)
Cathy Glass (#litres_trial_promo)
If you loved this book … (#litres_trial_promo)
Moving Memoirs eNewsletter (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Cathy Glass (#u92a58b8a-c776-592a-92a5-87ddec9fcbf7)
Damaged
Hidden
Cut
The Saddest Girl in the World
Happy Kids
The Girl in the Mirror
I Miss Mummy
Mummy Told Me Not to Tell
My Dad’s a Policeman (a Quick Reads novel)
Run, Mummy, Run
The Night the Angels Came
Happy Adults
A Baby’s Cry
Happy Mealtimes for Kids
Another Forgotten Child
Please Don’t Take My Baby
Will You Love Me?
About Writing and How to Publish
Daddy’s Little Princess
The Child Bride
Acknowledgements (#u92a58b8a-c776-592a-92a5-87ddec9fcbf7)
A big thank-you to my family; my editor, Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; and all the team at HarperCollins.
Chapter One
Lost and Frightened (#u92a58b8a-c776-592a-92a5-87ddec9fcbf7)
It was dark outside, and cold, at five o’clock on Tuesday, 1 February. I was expecting a six-year-old boy to arrive with his social worker at any moment. Indeed, I’d been expecting them for the last hour. Danny was coming into foster care and Jill, my support social worker, had given me some details about him over the phone two days previously. As well as being six, I knew he was an only child who had learning difficulties and challenging behaviour, which included meltdowns, tantrums and aggression, and his parents – unable to cope any longer – had approached the social services. Danny was coming into care under a ‘Section 20’, also known as accommodated or voluntary care, where the parents agree to the move and retain full legal parental rights. The hope was that Danny would eventually be able to return home.
I was in the kitchen preparing dinner. My children – Adrian, fifteen, Paula, eleven, and Lucy (soon to be adopted), thirteen – were upstairs in their bedrooms, hopefully doing their homework before they watched television or generally relaxed. As I worked I listened out for the doorbell signalling the arrival of Terri, Danny’s social worker, with little Danny. If all had gone to plan Danny’s mother would have taken some of his clothes and toys to his school at the end of the day, where she would have met with Terri, explained to Danny that he was coming into foster care and said goodbye. It would have been an emotional and upsetting parting for mother and son, but they would be seeing each other regularly. Jill was going to arrive with the placement information forms once Terri and Danny were here. However, when the telephone rang I guessed things weren’t going smoothly. Experience had taught me to expect last-minute changes, even if the move was planned, as Danny’s was.
‘I’ve just heard from Terri, Danny’s social worker,’ Jill said. ‘There’s a problem. Danny became very distressed when they told him he was coming into care, even though Terri handled it sensitively and stressed he’d be seeing his mother regularly. Apparently he kicked his mother and ran off screaming. He’s somewhere in the school grounds. Terri and the staff at the school are looking for him. Hopefully they’ve found him by now. His mother was too upset to stay and went home. Terri has asked if you can go to Danny’s school and collect him. She thinks he’ll feel a bit better once he’s met you.’
‘Yes, of course,’ I said. ‘I’ll leave straight away. It should take me about fifteen minutes.’ I knew from the information Jill had already given me where Danny’s school was.
‘Thank you,’ Jill said. ‘Can you let me know when you’re home with Danny? If it’s too late for me to visit I’ll come tomorrow.’
‘All right. Will do.’
We said a quick goodbye and I hurried out of the kitchen and upstairs to where my children were. Thankfully they were old enough now to be left for short periods. When they were younger and I was called out at short notice, as a single-parent foster carer I had to take them with me, which at times was quite disruptive for them. Now, however, I knocked on each of their bedroom doors, stuck my head round and said, ‘Jill’s just telephoned. I have to collect Danny from school. Can you keep an eye on the dinner, please? I should be back in about an hour.’
They knew Danny was coming to stay and that plans in fostering could change without much notice, so their responses were: ‘Yes,’ ‘OK,’ and ‘See ya later,’ followed by a chorus of ‘Bye, Mum.’
Downstairs again, I quickly slipped on my shoes and coat and, grabbing my bag and keys, headed out the front door. I felt the adrenalin kick in and my pulse quicken as I jumped into my car and then drove in the direction of Danny’s school. Poor little mite, I thought. He went to school as usual this morning, expecting to return home to his parents at the end of day, and then his mother and a social worker arrived to tell him he’s going to live with a foster carer – a complete stranger. How devastating, especially for a child like Danny, who already had problems. Little wonder he’d run off. I hoped he’d been found and was calmer now.
I turned into Yew Road where Danny’s school was and the first thing I saw was a police car parked outside, with its lights casting a moving glow over the front of the school building and nearby houses. With a stab of fear I thought the police’s presence must have something to do with Danny. I parked in the road, a little back from the police car, and got out. His school, Yew Primary, like many in the area, had a small tarmac playground at the front and grass playing fields at the sides and rear, which were flanked by shrubs and trees. As I hurried along the pavement and then across the front playground I could see torch lights flickering over the playing fields to the right of the building and hear voices calling, ‘It’s OK, Danny! There’s nothing to be frightened of!’ and ‘Danny, are you there?’ So Danny hadn’t been found and was still out there in the cold and dark.
I went in the main door, which was no longer security locked as it would have been during the day, and then through the empty reception and into the corridor beyond. All the lights were on, but it was eerily quiet and empty. I didn’t know the building, but the layout was clear. It was single storey and I hurried along the corridor towards the door that led out to the playing fields. All the classrooms I passed were empty. School finished at 3.30 and I assumed the staff that hadn’t gone home were probably on the playing field looking for Danny. I pushed open the door at the end of the corridor and stepped outside. A security light flashed on overhead. I could see three torch beams flickering along the edges of the fields as they searched the shrubbery, and male and female voices were calling Danny’s name. Then one female voice came closer.
‘Can I help you?’ she asked, stepping out of the dark to stand beside me.
‘I’m Cathy Glass, Danny’s foster carer.’
‘Hello. I’m Terri, Danny’s social worker,’ she said. ‘Thank you for coming. It’s a nightmare. I called the police. There are two officers as well as some of the staff looking for him. The police and the caretaker have the torches, but there’s no sign of Danny. Goodness knows where he is.’ In the light of the security lamp I could see Terri looked very stressed and worried, with good reason. She was average height, mid-thirties, with short brown hair, and was dressed in a quilted winter jacket and jeans.
