Five heart-stopping true stories of terror and triumph, told by the man who tried to make life better for these troubled children ...Clive, a thirteen-year-old victim of terrifying demonic visions, tells frightening stories of abuse and imprisonment. Could they be genuine?Patrick, twelve, bravely setting out to find the truth about his birth family - however painful it may be ...Six-year-old Johnny, tiny and undernourished, desperately tries to recover from a brain-...

Three heart-stopping stories of children trapped by their parents' pasts ...Craig, the little boy who can't speak English, isn't allowed to use his real name and hides food around his playschool, afraid he'll be hungry again. His parents are trying to make a fresh start, but their gangland bosses are about to catch up with the family and Craig will pay a terrible price...Edgar is a twelve-year-old boy who nobody wants, not even the staff at the residential unit where he liv...

Shane Dunphy was involved in social care for fifteen years. This book is a distillation of some of the cases he encountered in that time into a single, year-long narrative. In spite of the narrative's compression, and allowing for the necessary change of identifying details, everything in this book is true. And what the truth reveals! Here are the cases of three dysfunctional families, struggling at the margins of a society that barely acknowledges their existence. This is a portrait of fa...

When childcare worker Shane Dunphy meets Jason in 1991, he is a tiny, frightened five-year-old who has stopped speaking and terrorizes even the older children in the care home with his angry, violent behaviour. Eleven years later, Shane is shocked to find Jason's file on his desk again. Jason has committed some horrendous crimes and is facing a life of incarceration. Can Shane rebuild what had been a delicate friendship, and help Jason to face up to who he is, where he has come from, and w...

Four extraordinary true stories ...Bobby and Micky, six and four, controlled from beyond the grave by their evil father ...Mina, seventeen, who has Downs Syndrome, desperate to be like everyone else, falling into the hands of men who abuse her trust ...Sylvie, a fourteen-year-old mother being pimped by her father ...Twins Larry and Francey, ten, scarcely human after an upbringing of savage and unimaginable cruelty ...One insp...

In three amazing stories childcare worker Shane Dunphy reveals a world of hidden heartbreak and survival against the odds.When Shane meets her, Gillian is starving herself to death and in thrall to a mother more interested in abusing and manipulating her daughter than cherishing and protecting her. Though he tries to help, it seems Shane is just another adult destined to fail Gillian ...For the daughter of disturbed violent parents, Connie is an amazingly well-adjusted A-gr...

When Shane Dunphy starts work at Little Scamps crèche, he has no idea what he has let himself in for. He had not worked in an early years setting for many years and on arriving for his first day he found that two members of staff, Susan and Tush, are at the end of their tether and on the verge of resigning. The children themselves are completely out of control. At the centre of this chaos Shane finds Tammy, a pretty, doll-like five-year-old who is a mystery to everyone: she does not talk, ...

After the death of his best friend, Shane Dunphy runs away from his life working at a special needs crèche, and attempts to avoid his child protection instincts. However, when a part time journalism job in rural Ireland leads him to a family in desperate need of intervention, and a young girl crying out for protection, Shane cannot stand idly by and watch...Little Emma Blaney lives with her three siblings in an ancient farmhouse, with a life that is like something from another time - no ru...

Courage is sometimes found in the unlikeliest places ...Dominic is a sixteen year-old man-child: while he has the body of a prize-fighter, as a result of a terrible seizure when he was a small child he has been left with the mind of a child. In the centre where he spends his days, Dominic is a challenge and an inspiration: someone who struggles against the odds and whose every victory over his limitations is a cause for celebration. But when a new member of staff at the centre brea...

The Boy They Tried to Hide is the startling, true account about a troubled young boy who disappears into the woods by his house. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction ...Shane Dunphy was working as a resource teacher in a rural town when he was approached by the mother of one of his pupils, seeking help. She is worried for her troubled young son, who has been found leaving the house late at night to go deep into the woods near their home. He has spoken of meetings with ...

The Boy They Tried to Hide is the startling, true account of how truth is sometimes stranger than fiction ...Shane Dunphy was working as a resource teacher in a rural town when he was approached by the mother of one of his pupils, seeking help. She is worried for her troubled young son, who has been found leaving the house late at night to go deep into the woods near their home. He has spoken of meetings with a friend, Thomas, but no one else has seen him or knows who he i...

Ruth was a ghost of a girl when she arrived into foster mother Maggie Hartley's care. Pale, frail and withdrawn, it was clear to Maggie that Ruth had seen and experienced things that no 11-year-old should have to, that she's been conditioned to 'see no evil, speak no evil'. Ruth is in desperate need of help, but can Maggie get through to her and unlock the harrowing secret she carries?Through love, reassurance and patience, Maggie starts to unravel Ruth's painful past - a past defi...