Denied a Mummy

By: Maggie Hartley

Narrated by: Penny MacDonald

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Maggie's latest placement arrives on her doorstep, the three young siblings have clearly been through unspeakable traumas in their short lives. Violent, malnourished and showing signs of sexualised behaviour, the two brothers and their big sister have been left to fend for themselves by their drug-addicted parents. Maggie must use all of her skills and experience as a foster carer to help these damaged siblings to learn to be children again. With much love, care and patience, their behaviour gradually starts to improve, and social services start looking for a forever family for them.

But alarm bells start to ring when Maggie meets the couple who have been matched to adopt the siblings. It is clear that they're looking for the perfect ready-made family, and they're not going to get it with these vulnerable brothers and sister. Despite raising her concerns with social services, Maggie is powerless to prevent the adoption from going ahead, and she must put aside her own fears to help the siblings settle in with their new parents. But she can't shake the feeling of dread as she waves them good-bye.      

Six months later, Maggie's worst nightmares come true when she learns that the children have been handed back to the care of social services following the breakdown of the adoption. Maggie must fight to get the children returned to her, but is it too late to undo the damage that has been done?

©2018 Maggie Hartley (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Listen to the caregiver

Sometimes our pride gets in the way of our listening to someone else's suggestions and we think we know more they do for whatever reasons. However, social services should listen to the caregiver and ask the children the same questions to make sure everyone is on the same page. Too many times, things are not investigated and children get hurt. This is a good lesson for all of us. I recommend this book to read. Maggie Hartley comes across as a good foster parent who uses her wisdom and gut feeling to care for child abused children.

So happy! And the narrator is just right.

This was worth every penny. She is such a good example of how to care for struggling children.

The narrator’s quiet and calm reading is just what this author’s stories need; she adds a lot of goodness to the whole experience.

My Favorite One So Far!

We've been listening to Maggie's books for a while now, and love them all. But this one is by far our favorite!

luv luv luv

love everyone I can afford great to listen to even though it is a sad story I highly recommend all these books from this author

Couldn’t stop listening

As a person who works with children in residential care, this book’s emphasis on pain based behaviors and the loving way to respond gave me some was to covey this lesson to people I work with.

Really Great!

This was a splendid story of love and trauma, loss and and more love. Well written, and well performed.

wonderful author

I love all of Maggie's books, I can tell she loves and cares for each and every child she cares for

A loving and emotional roller coaster

This book made my heart both explode with love and break in pieces. Once again Maggie Hartley tells a riveting story, and made me feel the love she had for these children. The way she turns a child’s crumbling world into one of love, light and laughter is amazing. Any child in the foster care system would be so lucky to come into Maggie’s care. I love how she takes you on the journey with her. She is an outstanding author.

Loved it!

I loved this book, and feel that it was well-read by Ms. MacDonald. It definitely makes me want to listen to another Maggie Hartley book, read by Penny MacDonald!

Another fantastic book by this author.

What another great book by this author. This was a very touching and gripping book and I could not put it down from the moment I started reading it. What these children went threw was terrible and the support Maggie gave them and her dedication was amazing. This was a book that had happy and sad moments and some very heart breaking scenes as well. The fact that Maggie was determined to make sure these children got the love and care they deserved was clear. Won't go into any more detail in this review as don't want to give away any spoilers. Looking forward to the next book by this author whenever that will be. I read the Audio copies of all the books available by this author so far and Ponelapie McDonald who reads them is fantastic.

Maggie has such a big heart

If there is any book the social services needs to learn from its this one. Foster carers are the ones who know the children far better than anyone else n for the carers to not be heard is mind blowing to me. I will never understand why the adoptive parents ever got approved in the first place!! They aren’t children people at all n shouldn’t be allowed to adopt how they have no sense of understanding. The courage Maggie has and listening to her own gut feeling is allot to be admired. I couldn’t be happier for the ending for all involved! Things happen for a reason n this ending couldn’t of be any better! Maggie you are a true mum not just a foster carer and it shines through!

Denied a mother

This was a great book i enjoyed it so much going to look at her other ones

So sad for these kids but shows positive fostering

Such a sad situation these kids were in but wonderful skills of fostering by Maggie , Carole and great school support . So uplifting to hear the strong determination and perseverance by foster parent . Truly inspiring

Denied a mummy

what a good book hard to put down its got ups and downs all the way through but I enjoy it all the way through

Incredibly sad and frustrating!

It is so sad that so little weight is placed on the Foster carers in-depth knowledge and understanding of the children and what their needs are when looking for a forever family for them. It's also ridiculous that there isn't way more training etc given for the families that are looking to adopt. It should be mandatory that the families spend alot more time with the children and Foster carer - particularly when it comes to emotionally damaged children. Thank God for Maggie, who was able to work wonders with Mary, Shaun and Duggie.