Sparkle's Story

Thrown Away Children, Book 8

By: Louise Allen

Narrated by: Melanie Crawley

Louise gets a frantic call to take in a damaged and destructive young girl. Separated from her siblings, Sparkle is hostile and angry.

A short while after settling in, Sparkle begins to identify as pansexual. A revolution is underway in the Allen household, with Sparkle's transition motivating all of the young people to explore what becoming an adult means for them.

But it's Sparkle's escalating behaviour that causes concern.

Discovering a dark fact about Sparkle's birth and the shocking events that the children in her house were part of, Louise is desperate for more help--and not just for the child in her care. As Sparkle's erratic and violent behaviour increases, Louise finds herself and her home life under serious threat.

©2023 Louise Allen (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd

absolutely brilliant!

This so goes along with what is the new norm. Hits home more than you know. So appreciated the true raw emotional Rollercoaster this can bring about. Sad to hear you are leaving the fostering life. But you certainly had your share!! God Bless you and your family. so glad I came upon your books!!! A fan forever.

SUCH RESPECT FOR THE ALLEN’S, YET SUCH MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT SPARKLE’S STORY…

I want to start this review by saying that I think the Allen’s are amazing, remarkable people. Louise in particular (perhaps because of her own childhood experiences as a “throwaway child”) have such an innate, DEEP understanding of the pain her foster kids experience. She has SUCH empathy for them. It’s a good part of what makes her SO GOOD at what she does — that and an AMAZING husband who supports her, stands behind her, and puts up with a WHOLE LOT for her (and with her) on behalf of these confused, hurting foster children. Louise’s own children put up with a lot too, with a revolving door of different DEEPLY TROUBLED, often angry foster children; yet they remain loving and empathetic. What a great loss to the foster care system that they will be losing foster parents who are as good as the Allen’s.

Now, after saying that, let me also say, that even with training and a heart full of love for children (I am a long time elementary school teacher who has seen enough to last a life time when it comes to kids), I admire Mrs. Allen’s love and patience for these children whose hearts and psyches have been so terribly damaged.

I am afraid though that in one area Mrs. Allen and I would approach things in very different ways. I would be sympathetic and understanding for a foster child in my home — TO A POINT.

No child living in my home would EVER get away with telling me (or my husband or my own children) to “F**K off or to call me a C**T, a B***H or to call my husband a dirty B*****D!” especially not when they are an ELEVEN-year-old. Nor would they be allowed to hit me or any other member of the family. No child is going to hold me hostage in my own home, or to have my entire family walking on eggshells because everyone is living in fear of setting the child off. No eleven-year-old (not one who is living under my roof, eating the food I provide and accepting the kindness I and my family extend to them) is going to tell me WHEN they are going out and when they are returning home and they sure wouldn’t be allowed to cause massive destruction in my home in a fit of anger. If my own kids can’t act in a certain way, a foster kid wouldn’t be allowed to either.

I believe this is where Mrs. Allen went wrong with Sparkle. As a teacher of many years, it has been my experience that children NEED rules and expectations. A child will live up (or down) to the expectations the adults in their lives place in front of them. This is especially important for children who come from homes like Sparkle’s. Children, whether they will admit it or not, feel that rules and expectations ANCHOR them. Without them, they feel as if they are in free fall. I have had many children tell me that they know their parents love them BECAUSE they care enough to put rules in place and to enforce them; without those things, they feel their parents don’t care about them.

Of course, when working with children like Sparkle, rules and the enforcement of them isn’t “one size fits all.” What works with one child doesn’t necessarily work with another. It takes many people working cohesively as a team in the best interest of the child to make progress in helping the child overcome their past traumas and begin to heal.

This is where a team of social workers, doctors and specialists come into play. Throughout this story, I was left shaking my head when it came to the absolute abandonment of Sparkle and the Allen’s by the foster care system. The whole system and how the Allen’s even ended up with Sparkle was an absolute farce. Forged paperwork (really?!), inexperienced case workers drowning under a workload of 30+ children when their caseloads should be half of that and caseworkers so interested in making themselves look good that they are willing to sacrifice a little girl’s mental health to do it? Shameful. Thank goodness Mrs. Allen is such a thorough record keeper. It’s the only way to protect oneself.

As for this whole business of groups having to constantly “identify” themselves on every single form, I think it’s all getting out of hand. If every specialized group in the world wants recognition on every form, we are going to need a lot more letters in the alphabet. Frankly, I was confused in places in the book with the whole “them/they” thing. Mrs. Allen was right in that it’s very hard to change a lifetime of speech patterns and “they/them” completely breaks all the grammar rules we were all taught as children beginning in kindergarten.

Why can’t we just eliminate ALL identifications on forms and leave ONE box that’s marked “human” and leave it at that? It’s no one’s business HOW I identify myself and I am really not interested in knowing how total strangers identify themselves… If absolutely necessary, the powers that be that creates forms could have a box marked “Sex,” and two boxes after that to choose from: “YES, PLEASE!” or “Not today, thanks.” 😉😉😉

As always, LOVED the narrator in this book! I highly recommend this book to others.

Such a sad story

I have never been a foster parent. It is heart breaking that mental health services are so difficult to obtain in the UK. This child needed help from the minute she entered care. Again I have never been a foster parent, but I can’t help but wonder if Sparkle’s behavior would have been challenged earlier if the home would not have become so hostile. It is shocking to me there is not a mental health facility she could not have taken to for emergency services. In the area of America I live in, which is considered by many to be one of the poorest states (Mississippi) all of our Emergency Rooms have services for mental health issues.
I hope the grandparents did provide Sparkle the support and love she/they needed.

love her stories she draws you in

feel bad for the kids. Can't understand how people can be so mean and hurt children. just so sad that we even have to worry so much about kids

very descriptive

Well written, very descriptive easy to follow story. Am reading my 3rd book of hers

Always an intense listen.

the feelings invoked while listening to L.A.'s books are all over the place. I enjoy the Rollercoaster of emotions. and I love the narrator.

Fabulous book by Mrs Louise Allen!

I have read all of Louise Allen’s books, and I think this one is my favorite…although I have truly loved all of them. I have such respect for Mrs. Allen as a mother and foster caretaker. I have experienced what Mrs Allen writes in this book as a former teacher here in the USA. I became so concerned with using correct words and pronouns.. I felt I became quite “robotic” when I spoke to my students. I was scared constantly of saying the “wrong” thing. I was scared and yet, I have never discriminated against any race, religion or sexual orientation in my life. In turn, this took away from my love of teaching and creating a loving and caring classroom where I could just relax and allow children to be children. Mrs Allen’s love for children and her drive to make this world a better place is to be admired. I pray she continues to foster… The world needs you Mrs. Allen.

Louise tackles some tough questions

This wasn’t an easy book to listen to, because the issues raised were very serious. It was thought provoking and I think Louise’s common sense approach took courage.

Liberalism

While I appreciate her compassion, empathy, and gentleness I was turned off by her willingness to accept all this gender identity foolishness. Obviously not a godly woman. Very sad.

Hard to follow

I love Louise Allen and narrator but this book was hard to follow, I felt like it was all over the place.