Cathy Glass - Finding Stevie - Part 1 of 3

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Acknowledgements Chapter One: Struggling to Cope Chapter Two: Difficult Meeting Chapter Three: Trouble Chapter Four: Straight Talking Chapter Five: Secrets Chapter Six: Inappropriate Chapter Seven: Quiet and Withdrawn Chapter Eight: Error of Judgement Chapter Nine: First Review Chapter Ten: Controlling Moving Memoirs eNewsletter About the Publisher

Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperElement 2019

FIRST EDITION

Text © Cathy Glass 2019

Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Cover photograph © Mark Owen/Trevillion Images (posed by a model)

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Source ISBN: 9780008324292

Ebook Edition © February 2019 ISBN: 9780008324322

Version: 2019-07-11

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Acknowledgements Chapter One: Struggling to Cope Chapter Two: Difficult Meeting Chapter Three: Trouble Chapter Four: Straight Talking Chapter Five: Secrets Chapter Six: Inappropriate Chapter Seven: Quiet and Withdrawn Chapter Eight: Error of Judgement Chapter Nine: First Review Chapter Ten: Controlling Moving Memoirs eNewsletter About the Publisher

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Acknowledgements Chapter One: Struggling to Cope Chapter Two: Difficult Meeting Chapter Three: Trouble Chapter Four: Straight Talking Chapter Five: Secrets Chapter Six: Inappropriate Chapter Seven: Quiet and Withdrawn Chapter Eight: Error of Judgement Chapter Nine: First Review Chapter Ten: Controlling Moving Memoirs eNewsletter About the Publisher Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the family’s privacy. HarperElement An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published by HarperElement 2019 FIRST EDITION Text © Cathy Glass 2019 Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 Cover photograph © Mark Owen/Trevillion Images (posed by a model) A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green Source ISBN: 9780008324292 Ebook Edition © February 2019 ISBN: 9780008324322 Version: 2019-07-11

Acknowledgements Acknowledgements A big thank you to my family; my editors, Carolyn and Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; my UK publishers HarperCollins, and my overseas publishers who are now too numerous to list by name. Last, but definitely not least, a big thank you to my readers for your unfailing support and kind words. They are much appreciated.

Chapter One: Struggling to Cope Chapter One

Chapter Two: Difficult Meeting Chapter Two

Chapter Three: Trouble

Chapter Four: Straight Talking

Chapter Five: Secrets

Chapter Six: Inappropriate

Chapter Seven: Quiet and Withdrawn

Chapter Eight: Error of Judgement

Chapter Nine: First Review

Chapter Ten: Controlling

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter

About the Publisher

A big thank you to my family; my editors, Carolyn and Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; my UK publishers HarperCollins, and my overseas publishers who are now too numerous to list by name. Last, but definitely not least, a big thank you to my readers for your unfailing support and kind words. They are much appreciated.

Chapter One

‘… and he’s gender-fluid,’ Edith continued. ‘So together with all his behavioural problems his grandparents don’t feel they can look after him any longer.’

‘No, quite, I can see that’s rather a lot to cope with,’ I sympathised. ‘His grandparents must be stretched to the limit, looking after his younger brother and sister too.’

‘So you’ll take him?’ Edith asked. She was my supervising social worker, employed by the local authority to supervise and support their foster carers, of which I was one. She’d just been telling me about Steven, who liked to be known as Stevie. Aged fourteen, he needed a foster home as – according to his grandparents – he was confrontational, moody, withdrawn, stayed out late, didn’t do as they told him, wasn’t going to school and was generally making their lives a complete misery.

‘So I’ll tell his social worker you’ll take him,’ Edith said, slightly impatient at my hesitation.

‘Yes, but I have a question.’

‘Go on.’

‘What does gender-fluid mean?’ I asked reluctantly, not wanting to appear ignorant and make a fool of myself. ‘Is he gay?’

‘Not sure,’ she said. ‘I think it’s mainly to do with whether he is male or female, but his social worker will be able to tell you more. It’s not a problem for you, is it?’

‘No.’

‘Good. I’ll tell his social worker to phone you. They want to move Stevie as quickly as possible.’

‘How quickly?’

‘Within the next few days.’

‘All right.’

‘And you had a good Christmas?’ Edith asked. It was 27 December and the first day back at work for many.

‘Yes, thank you, and you?’

‘Busy.’

We said goodbye and I replaced the handset on its base in the hall. Our Christmas had been a good one, although it was the first since my father had passed away and, as anyone who has lost a loved one knows, the first Christmas and their birthday can be rather emotional. But my family and I had enjoyed ourselves for Dad’s sake; a child at heart, he always loved Christmas.