Denied a Mummy

By: Maggie Hartley

Narrated by: Penelope McDonald

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 goodbye.
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?

Read by Penny MacDonald

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

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!

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.

heart broken

great book, but heart broke for these 3 kids, but happy tears at the end!! amazing story

Denied a Mummy

A brilliant book. I loved it. It was only 6 + book so I only took one day to listen to it. I just wish it had been longer.

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.

Story

All of it. Was informative and shows love can help heal all. Great reader and story

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

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.

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.