This is a wonderful book. It is so important, not only because it provides a fresh perspective on the unremitting abuse narratives that have come to characterise public understanding of residential child care, but also because it is a good exemplar of how detailed case-studies can serve to challenge received narratives that do not tell the full story.
Dr Ros Burnett
Research Associate, formerly Reader in Criminology, at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford
A brave, powerful and essential corrective to the singular story that has dominated accounts of residential care in recent decades. This book champions the many positive experiences of care in which joy, pain, laughs, and friendships capture the complexity and relational closeness of personal narratives that too often go unheard.
Sebastian Monteux
Former residential care worker, registered mental health nurse and lecturer in mental health nursing at Abertay University