Thrown Away Child

Louise Allen

Jan 2018 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Sarah Moule

About this audiobook

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

Thrown Away Child is a memoir covering Louise Allen’s abusive childhood in a foster home, how she survived - using her love of art as a sanctuary - and how she hopes to right old wrongs now by fostering children herself and campaigning for the improvement of foster care services. It is a compelling and inspirational story. This book gives a voice to the many children who grew up unhappily in care. 

Ratings and reviews

Blakely warbly the Kirkland prosecutor and Woodinville Police in Washington made my daughter a throwaway child her father didn't want her and the prosecutor ordered me not to have any contact with her after a strange family members lied and said I have used her my daughter has mental health disorders and intellectual disabilities they forced her into homelessness because she was almost 18 CPS wouldn't take her in because the Foster system she's unmedicated I'm bipolar I can't take care of hersel

About the author

Louise Allen was a foster child who underwent an unspeakably tough childhood with cruel foster parents in the 1970s who then adopted her and continued the abuse. She managed to escape at the age of fifteen but found herself in a new city with no money, no friends or family. Eventually her skills in painting and drawing – as well as her determination not to let her childhood define her – helped her forge a healthy adult life. She firmly believes that there is hope for all children who have been abused and that children who experience trauma can go on to have good lives. Now happily married with her own children, she also fosters children and works hard doing what she can to right the wrongs still being perpetrated against foster children. She has appeared on BBC’s Front Row, Saturday Live, That’s Life, Loose Women and This Morning. Her bestselling memoir, Thrown Away Child, was the start of her work as a campaigner for the rights of children in care. This led to a further book series, the Sunday Times bestselling Thrown Away Children titles, which tells the stories of some of the children she has fostered and their often heartbreaking pasts. Her guide to adoption, How to Adopt a Child, was published in 2021, and a new series exposing the County Lines tragedy, Slave Girls, is forthcoming in 2025. Louise is the founder of the charity Spark Sisterhood which creates employment pathways, mentoring programmes, community and an online learning platform for girls in – and leaving – care. For more information, to donate or volunteer, please visit www.sparksisterhood.org.