Is It My Fault Mummy?

And other true stories from the nation's favourite foster carer

By: Maggie Hartley

Narrated by: Penny MacDonald

Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

Maggie Hartley is one of the UK's most prolific foster mothers. This inspiring collection includes three heartbreaking, true short stories about the children who have passed through Maggie's care. 

'Is It My Fault Mummy?' 

Seven-year-old Paris is trapped in a prison of guilt. Devastated after the death of her baby brother, Joel, Maggie faces one of her most heartbreaking cases yet as she tries to break down the wall of guilt surrounding this damaged little girl. 

'A Desperate Cry for Help'

Twelve-year-old Meg arrives at Maggie's after a fire destroys the children's home she's been living in. Traumatised by the fire and angry and vulnerable, having been put into care by her mother, Meg is lashing out at everyone around her. Can Maggie reach this damaged little girl before it's too late? And before Meg's destructive behaviour puts Maggie's life - and the lives of the other children in her care - at risk?

These heartwarming and inspiring short stories show the power of a foster mother's love and her determination to help the children who come into her care.

©2020 Maggie Hartley (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Brilliant!

I have so enjoyed hearing these stories about Maggie and the children she fosters. Looking forward to the next one!

Shorter stories

This had three short stories. The narration is very good. Typically it was good listen.

Interesting Listen

Maggie Hartley gives a glimpse into the life of a foster parent and the struggles of the children taken into the care system. A must read for anyone interested in social work!

Heart wrenching

I found these stories realistic as they are that. Very well written and hard to stop listening. Highly recommend.

Incredibly naive fosterer!!

Maggie the foster carer is very nice, kind and friendly, but can be quite dim when it comes to really obvious red flag clues!!

The first story is really sweet and moving. A small girl is badly neglected by her drug addict mother and her baby brother has come to grief. Maggie helps her find a happy ending.

The second one is about a troubled preteen with a history of disturbed behaviour who has been involved in a fire. But nice but far too naive Maggie seems to have no clue why her garden shed suddenly catches fire shortly after her adult daughter's lighter suddenly goes missing... 🙄 And she seems to have no idea it might be connected to the new disturbed girl's presence. The girl is plainly using fire as a self harm/comfort mechanism to self-soothe regarding her troubled attachment issues with her mother which are immediately obvious from the girl's feelings about her. It's so annoyingly, blundingly obvious to the reader (I too have over 20 years experience in childcare) what has happened and whose fault it is!! FFS. "I couldn't imagine how frightening it must be for her to be involved in another fire so soon after her children's home burned down". Come on luv!!! Don't be so thick!!!! 😬😬😬 Finally the penny drops. "I had no idea she was going to do this!" Maggie wails naively. (Well duh!!!)
"I'm sure it was just an isolated incident". (Seriously?) And she STILL thinks the girl had nothing to do with the mysterious fire at her children's home....

The 3rd story involves a teenager who can't take care of herself and constantly forgets everything, including what's just been said to her. From the description of the first few days, “special-needs" started screaming really loudly and obviously at me, especially after she got lost on the way to work, left the front door open and almost flooded the place after forgetting a bath was running. Her excuse, "my brain just gets really muddled sometimes and I don't remember" screamed "LEARNING DISABILITY!!" at me - but nice, dim Maggie still persisted in thinking she was just absent-minded!
By the time she'd impulsively posted her clothes allowance into a charity box, had a tantrum then immediately forgot about it, seemed unable to focus on even the TV for more than 10 minutes, and then left the gas running, I'd diagnosed ADD or FAS. But Maggie was still thinking she was a typical scatty teenager, if harder work than most. Come on dear!!! She's never been assessed, get it done now!!!
Finally, they found out that Rebecca's birth mother was an alcoholic, and it filtered through Maggie's brain that she had Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

brilliant

absolutely enjoyed it you really got into the story from the beginning you couldn't put it down

I really enjoyed it

This was well written and easy to listen to. it opened my eyes up the challenges some children face and the great work done by foster carers and social workers in supporting children. I would be keen to listen to more

good book with great narrator

the narrator was really good the three short stories were interesting couldn't put the book down

ok book

narrott was really clear and nice voice story was a bit short would have loved to had known what paris is doing now

Great book

What a fantastic read I can not wait to read more books like this I wish my foster parents where more like maggie

Brilliant

As always another fantastic one from Maggie Hartley
All great books can’t wait for the next one