About the Author

I have been a foster carer for over 20 years, during which time I have looked after more than 50 children, of all ages and backgrounds. Fostering is very demanding but the rewards are never ending. If you are interested in fostering you can find out more by contacting your local social services, family and children’s division, or a private fostering agency. Because I have been fostering for a long time I help run training courses for new foster carers and also help draft new fostering procedures and guidelines.  I have three teenage children of my own so I am very busy, but nicely so.

I have always combined fostering with writing, and get up very early in the morning so that I can write, before the day begins with my ever-changing family. I think writing is a sort of therapy for me, and certainly telling the children's stories helped me to come to terms with what the children had been through. Before the publication of my fostering memoirs I had written short stories, articles, and poems for various national magazines and newspapers. My third fostering memoir, Cut, will be out in August 2008.

Many readers have contacted me, asking for details of charities so they can make a donation. Below are some of the charities I have supported:

NSPCC
Save the Children
Barnardo's
NAPAC
Fostering Net