Cathy Glass - The Child Bride: Part 1 of 3

Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates, have been changed to protect the children.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

and HarperElement are trademarks of

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

First published by HarperElement 2014

FIRST EDITION

Cathy Glass 2014

A catalogue record of this book

is available from the British Library

Cover layout design HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014

Cover photography by Nicky Rojas (posed by model)

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.

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green

Source ISBN: 9780007590001

Ebook Edition September 2014 ISBN: 9780007590025

Version: 2016-05-26

Damaged

Hidden

Cut

The Saddest Girl in the World

Happy Kids

The Girl in the Mirror

I Miss Mummy

Mummy Told Me Not to Tell

My Dads a Policeman (a Quick Reads novel)

Run, Mummy, Run

The Night the Angels Came

Happy Adults

A Babys Cry

Happy Mealtimes for Kids

Another Forgotten Child

Please Dont Take My Baby

Will You Love Me?

About Writing and How to Publish

Daddys Little Princess

A big thank-you to my editor, Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; Carole, Vicky, Laura, Hannah, Virginia and all the team at HarperCollins.

A small child walks along a dusty path. She has been on an errand for her aunt and is now returning to her village in rural Bangladesh. The sun is burning high in the sky and she is hot and thirsty. Only another 300 steps, she tells herself, and she will be home.

The dry air shimmers in the scorching heat and she keeps her eyes down, away from its glare. Suddenly she hears her name being called close by and looks over. One of her teenage cousins is playing hide and seek behind the bushes.

Go away. Im hot and tired, she returns, with childish irritability. I dont want to play with you now.

I have water, he says. Wouldnt you like a drink?

She has no hesitation in going over. She is very thirsty. Behind the bush, but still visible from the path if anyone looked, he forces her to the ground and rapes her.

She is nine years old.

And she wouldnt feel more comfortable with an Asian foster carer? I queried.

No, Zeena has specifically asked for a white carer, Tara, the social worker, continued. I know its unusual, but she is adamant. Shes also asked for a white social worker.

Why?

She says shell feel safer, but wont say why. I want to accommodate her wishes if I can.

Yes, of course, I said, puzzled. How old is she?

Fourteen. Although she looks much younger. Shes a sweet child, but very traumatized. Shes admitted shes been abused, but is too frightened to give any details.

The poor kid, I said.

I know. The child protection police office will see her as soon as weve moved her. Shes obviously suffered, but for how long and who abused her, shes not saying. Ive no background information. Sorry. All we know is that Zeena has younger siblings and her family is originally from Bangladesh, but thats it Im afraid. Ill visit the family as soon as Ive got Zeena settled. I want to collect her from school this afternoon and bring her straight to you. The school is working with us. In fact, they were the ones who raised the alarm and contacted the social services. I should be with you in about two hours.

Yes, thats fine, I said. Ill be here.

Ill phone you when were on our way, Tara clarified. I hope Zeena will come with me this time. She asked to go into care on Monday but then changed her mind. Her teacher said she was petrified.

Of what?

Or of whom? Zeena wouldnt say. Anyway, thanks for agreeing to take her, Tara said, clearly anxious to be on her way and to get things moving. Ill phone as soon as Ive collected her from school.

We said a quick goodbye and I replaced the handset. It was only then I realized Id forgotten to ask if Zeena had any special dietary requirements or other special considerations, but my guess was that as Tara had so little information on Zeena, she wouldnt have known. Id find out more when they arrived. With an emergency placement as this one was the background information on the child or children is often scarce to begin with, and I have little notice of the childs arrival; sometimes just a phone call in the middle of the night from the duty social worker to say the police are on their way with a child. If a move into care is planned, I usually have more time and information.

Id been fostering for twenty years and had recently left Homefinders, the independent fostering agency (IFA) Id been working with, because theyd closed their local branch and Jill, my trusted support social worker, had taken early retirement. I was now fostering for the local authority (LA). While it made no difference to the child which agency I fostered for, I was having to get used to slightly different procedures, and doing without the excellent support of Jill. I did have a supervising social worker (as the LA called them), but I didnt see her very often, and I knew that, unlike Jill, she wouldnt be with me when a new child arrived. It wasnt the LAs practice.

It was now twelve noon, so if all went to plan Tara and Zeena would be with me at about two oclock. The secondary school Zeena attended was on the other side of town, about half an hours drive away. I went upstairs to check on what would be Zeenas bedroom for however long she was with me. I always kept the room clean and tidy and with the bed made up, as I never knew when a child would arrive. The room was never empty for long, and Aimee, whose story I told in Another Forgotten Child, had left us two weeks previously. The duvet cover, pillow case and cushions were neutral beige, which would be fine for a fourteen-year-old girl. To help her settle and feel more at home I would encourage her to personalize her room by adding posters to the walls and filling the shelves with her favourite books, DVDs and other knick-knacks that litter teenagers bedrooms.

Satisfied that the room was ready for Zeena, I returned downstairs. I was nervous. Even after many years of fostering, awaiting the arrival of a new child or children is an anxious time. Will they be able to relate to me and my family? Will they like us? Will I be able to meet their needs, and how upset or angry will they be? Once the child or children arrive Im so busy there isnt time to worry. Sometimes teenagers can be more challenging than younger children, but not always.