Finding Stevie: A dark secret. A child in crisis.

Description

Finding Stevie is a dark and poignant true story that highlights the dangers lurking online. When Stevie's social worker tells Cathy, an experienced foster carer, that Stevie, 14, is gender fluid she isn't sure what that term means and looks it up. Stevie, together with his younger brother and sister, have been brought up by their grandparents as their mother is in prison. But the grandparents can no longer cope with Stevie's behaviour so they place him in care. Stevie is exploring his gender identity, and like many young people he spends time online. Cathy warns him about the dangers of talking to strangers online and advises him how to stay safe. When his younger siblings tell their grandmother that they have a secret they can't tell, Cathy is worried. However, nothing could have prepared her for the truth when Stevie finally breaks down and confesses what he's done.

Cathy Glass is a pseudonym. She has been a foster carer for over 20 years, during which time she has looked after more than 100 children, of all ages and backgrounds. Cathy runs training courses on fostering for her local Social Services, and helps draft new fostering procedures and guidelines. Cathy has three teenage children of her own; one of whom, Lucy, was adopted after a long-term foster placement. Cathy has always had an interest in writing, combining fostering with occasional freelance journalism and commercial writing, usually when a particular issue stirs her passion. Before the success of Damaged she had written on health and social issues for the Guardian, the Evening Standard, Luton News, and the Hemel Gazette. She is also a published fiction writer, with poems and short stories published in a number of commercial magazines. Cathy's books have been constantly in the best-seller charts since Damaged was published in 2007, having sold over 2 million copies across her titles worldwide.