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Helpless

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Helpless

Written by: Cathy Glass
Narrated by: DeNica Fairman
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About this listen

The 32nd fostering memoir from international bestseller Cathy Glass

Struggling to cope with three young children, Janie turns to experienced foster carer Cathy Glass. Helping the family each morning, Cathy soon uncovers how dangerous their situation has truly become.

Riley and his two little siblings, Jayden and Lola, are not safe at home.

With all three children in her care, will Cathy be able to rebuild their lives – and Janie’s?

©2024 Cathy Glass (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers
Abuse Biographies & Memoirs Parenting & Families Fostering
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A solid entry in Cathy’s post-fostering career

Some spoilers ahead.

While the previous book from Glass was meandering and ultimately a bit pointless, feeling like a slow coast to a stop as she wrapped up fostering for good, this book manages to recover some momentum after all. Cathy’s new job as a community liaison who helps support families in their homes to prevent them from sliding into the disarray that necessitates removing children is as vital a role as she played before, although now she finds herself caught up in the story of the parents more than the children.

This was an interesting change of pace. Cathy knows how to manage children, and even in the writing of this book often gives our advice on incentives, child-rearing, discipline and consistency. But this is her first time managing an adult who behaves like a child, and her usual techniques are stymied in the face of toxic behaviour and cycles of poor decision making. It’s one thing to break a habit in a child and make new, healthy ones - what do you do with a parent who has children because of the bad choices and habits they had, and therefore will continue to have as it becomes their source of coping with those mistakes?

It’s painful, hearing Janey repeatedly verbally abuse her kids and endanger their new puppy. But it’s even more painful to realize that her trust is routinely betrayed by others in her life, as she’s preyed upon by people she believes to be her friends. A single mother on benefits is somehow still a target for the monsters of the world. Her loneliness is palpable, and it isn’t surprising that she tries to fill it in all the wrong ways - by dating bad men, getting a dog, and cosseting her youngest like a doll.

I also enjoyed the reflective visits to the retired foster care woman, whom Cathy has such an obvious bond with. As Cathy contemplates moving to senior care, I find myself looking forward to the stories she might tell from the other end of human existence.

Finally, the brief respite care of a child who comes out swinging against the foster care system repeatedly returning her to her unfit mother raises a question Cathy has occasionally rumbled on in the past - if the attempts to reunite children with their parents at any costs is actually a detriment. This comes to a head near the end of the book, where Cathy makes a call that ultimately removes Janey’s children from her. Janey feels betrayed that the one truly honest person in her life had “turned against her” - especially sad given her loneliness and bad judgement - but as Cathy rightly states, it was Janey who had betrayed herself. And yet Cathy’s guilt drives her to help Janey get her children back - even though she is weighed by doubts that it’s the best thing for them. Unfortunately this is a recent story, so time will tell if returning to their mostly well-meaning but very immature mother was the right thing for Janey’s three children and Max the dog.

I really enjoyed the self-reflection Cathy did in this book. It was more engaging than in the last, and featured her doubts and uncertainty in her new role in a way I haven’t seen since her first novels. Though she may have drawn out the material a bit too much, there is something to say for the repetitive self-destruction Cathy witnesses in Janey’s life, and the helplessness she feels trying to “parent” an adult.

Finally, this is the first time I feel Danica Fairman let down Cathy a bit. Her performance as Janey was a redo of Cass from “Cruel to be Kind”, but lacked the humanity and eventual warmth she lent that poor woman. Janey is given a distinctly detestable tone throughout, even in her more vulnerable moments.

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