The Girl Who Wanted to Belong: The True Story of a Devastated Little Girl and the Foster Carer who Healed her Broken Heart

Angela Hart

Aug 2018 · Angela Hart Book 5 · Pan Macmillan

About this ebook

The Sunday Times bestseller about a young girl in need of some care and compassion.

Lucy is eight years old and ends up in foster care after being abandoned by her mum and kicked out by her new stepmother. Two aunties and then her elderly grandmother take her in but it seems nobody can cope with Lucy’s disruptive behaviour. Social Services hope a stay with experienced foster carer Angela will help Lucy settle down. She misses her dad and three siblings and is desperate for a fresh start back home, but will Lucy ever be able to live in harmony with her stepmother and her stepsister – a girl who was once her best friend at school?

The Girl Who Wanted to Belong is the fifth book from well-loved foster carer and Sunday Times bestselling author Angela Hart. A true story that shares the tale of one of the many children she has fostered over the years. Angela's stories show the difference that quiet care, a watchful eye and sympathetic ear can make to those children whose upbringing has been less fortunate than others.

Ratings and reviews

This is a well-documented account of how experienced foster parents, Angela and Jonathan take Lucy ostensibly temporarily into their home. There is so much warmth, compassion, selflessness and understanding in Angela's approach to fostering Lucy with commendable support from Jonathan. Angela knows from experience that eight-year-old Lucy comes with a history which is sketchily drawn up and there is the possibility of emotional baggage. Often records are inaccurate or written by a jaundiced ex-carer or family member. Lucy is a delightful child but she can be manipulative, and she's distinctly plausible. She idolises her father, Dean and desperately wants to have quality time at home with her daddy and her siblings. Sadly, Dean has brought a controlling, battleaxe female into the family called Wendy. There's a brick wall between Wendy and Lucy which ends in her removal from the family. Dean is disinclined to stand up against Wendy and does not engage in fighting from Lucy's corner. It's hard to believe he would sacrifice Lucy for this indomitable woman. This is the heartbreaking part. Angela is asked to support Lucy towards re-integration back into the family. Can she manage this challenge or are other forces working against her? Her problems start with trying to get Lucy into a local school. She needs special educational needs provision (SEN), but Angela is headed off time and time again by schools that are reluctant to admit a child who requires SEN support. There isn't the funding or the willingness. Angela exposes a huge hole of reluctance in the SEN funding in schools. They desperately need better funding in schools and specially qualified staff who know how to meet the needs of children like Lucy and many others. I liked how Angela carefully chose her moment and chose her battles when forced to discuss sensitive matters with Lucy. The book gives an excellent portrait of fostering. Every mother knows that children can be a challenge but foster parents have to deal with social workers, birth parents, contact, meetings and problems with schools and endless training sessions. They have to be patient with agencies who would prefer to fob them off. The unfairness of Lucy's situation makes my blood boil. How will Angela and Jonathan cope with all these complications? Thank you to NetGalley and Bluebird publishers for such an eye-opening read.

I am trying to find the third book in this series Please help, thank you

Loved it!

About the author

Angela Hart, who writes under a pseudonym, is a specialist foster carer for children with complex needs. Angela has been a foster carer for over twenty-five years, during which time she and her husband, Jonathan, have looked after more than fifty children. Her books The Girl Who Wanted to Belong, Terrified and The Girl Who Just Wanted To Be Loved were top ten Sunday Times bestsellers.