Casey Watson Books in Order

Five-year-old Ethan is mute with shock after his mother dies from a drug overdose and his father remains in prison. In Casey’s home, night terrors, sudden rages and an aching longing for the dad he barely knows force everyone to confront what real parenting should mean.

When Elise’s regular carer goes on holiday, Casey agrees to a short respite placement with a bubbly, affectionate teenage girl. But Elise’s desperate need for attention soon spirals into false accusations and risky behaviour that threaten to destroy the people who have tried to help her.

Newborn Tommy, born in prison, and his wild four-year-old half-brother Seth arrive on Casey’s doorstep, followed soon after by their teenage mother, Jenna. Juggling baby care, a traumatised preschooler and a fragile young mum, Casey fights to keep this fractured family together.

Thirteen-year-old Harley has been sectioned after trying to end her life on a motorway bridge. Placed with Casey under a short order, she pushes everyone away until, step by step, she is finally able to disclose the abuse that made death seem like her only escape.

Nine-year-old Sam, a small boy with autism and a terrifying temper, has already driven several carers to give up. As destruction and bullying follow him into Casey’s home, she digs into a past with almost no records and uncovers the hidden history shaping his rage.

This volume gathers five of Casey’s most powerful short stories, following children like Darby, Nathan, Paulie, Connor and Scarlett through brief but intense stays in her orbit. Each vignette shows how small acts of care can change the direction of a young life.

Miller has bounced through more than twenty placements since being found naked and alone on a railway track at five. Aggressive, mistrustful and convinced he is unlovable, he forces Casey to question how far she can go to pull a boy back from the edge.

On Christmas Eve, twelve-year-old Bella is placed with Casey while her father lies in intensive care and her mother sits in prison, accused of trying to kill him. Bella refuses to speak, but she is the only person who knows what really happened.

In this short collection, Casey revisits some of the most sensitive cases she has encountered, tackling subjects families often keep hidden. Each brief, true account highlights a different child’s experience while gently challenging readers to face uncomfortable realities.

Fourteen-year-old Adrianna, a malnourished Polish girl with the poise of a dancer, turns up at a social services office with nowhere to go and no English. In Casey’s care, fragments of memory reveal a terrifying story of trafficking and exploitation.

A late-night emergency call brings Keeley, a strong-willed teenager at the centre of disturbing sexual allegations, into Casey’s home. Whether or not the accusations are proven, Casey must keep her safe, navigate online dangers and help a confused girl understand what real consent looks like.

This memoir centres on a boy placed with Casey whose jokey, larger-than-life persona hides deep hurt about the adults who were supposed to protect him. Working with his fractured family, Casey must show him that he can belong somewhere without losing himself.

Adam is frail, anxious and forever being taken to medical appointments for a vague sickness no one can quite explain. After he moves in, Casey notices his health dips dramatically after every visit with his devoted mother, and realises something far more sinister may be happening.

Six-year-old Darby arrives just before Christmas, hysterical and petrified after being removed from a home where she was kept isolated and exploited. As Casey and Mike offer warmth and routine, Darby slowly begins to trust that she is finally safe.

In Casey’s behaviour unit, thirteen-year-old Leo is bright and polite yet constantly runs away from school. With a mother who never attends meetings and a history of unexplained absences, his case pushes Casey to uncover the painful secret Leo is determined to protect.

Five-year-old Paulie has already been rejected by his family after killing the pet rabbit and terrorising his baby brother. Obsessed with an absent father he idealises, he tests every limit in Casey’s home as she searches for a way to keep him – and others – safe.

Eight-year-old Connor arrives at the Watsons’ house in what looks like a prison van, wise beyond his years and determined to cause chaos. Beneath the swagger, Casey sees a frightened boy whose bond with foster brother Tyler could be his chance to start again.

Phillipa, nicknamed Flip, marches into Casey’s life with a pink vanity case, a Barbie doll and a heartbreaking question: Am I ugly, Mummy? Living with foetal alcohol syndrome and years of rejection, she forces Casey to confront how deeply cruelty can scar a child’s self-worth.

Kiera is a tired, anxious twelve-year-old who pulls out her own hair and lashes out at classmates. Casey senses an old soul behind the childlike frame, and slowly uncovers a family situation and secret that robbed Kiera of any real childhood.

Imogen barely speaks at school and wears a blank, unsettling expression, convincing most staff she’s simply being difficult. Casey suspects much more is wrong, and discovers a girl who is mute in class yet explosively violent at home, hiding a terrifying story of abuse.

Seventeen-year-old twins Scarlett and Jade never leave each other’s side, yet seethe with unspoken tension. In Casey’s behaviour unit, odd smells, sudden rages and hints of a hidden pregnancy lead her towards the devastating secret that has shaped both girls’ lives.

Eleven-year-old Tyler has stabbed his stepmother and run out of chances in the care system. Haunted by the loss of his heroin-addicted mother and brutalised at home, he arrives with Casey angry, volatile and convinced he is destined to repeat the past.

Nathan drifts between disturbing alter egos in Casey’s school unit, from a wig-wearing girl to a swaggering older boy. As she digs into his life with a violent father and squalid home, she fights to get professionals to take his suffering seriously.

Ten-year-old Abigail has spent her life caring for her mother, who has advanced multiple sclerosis. When illness forces them apart, Casey must help a fiercely independent child-carer learn how to be a little girl again and face an uncertain future.

Cameron seems like an easy placement: funny, polite and eager to please. But after one disastrous family outing, he disappears without warning, leaving Casey to piece together what triggered his flight and whether this gentle boy ever truly felt safe.

On her family’s farm, nine-year-old Cody loves God, her animals and getting muddy. When raising a lamb for the county fair doesn’t go to plan, she learns that faith, hard work and a kind heart matter more than winning any prize.

Jenson, nine, arrives after being left home alone while his mother holidayed abroad, angry at the world and spoiling for a fight. When autistic Georgie soon joins the household, Casey must juggle two deeply damaged boys whose fragile new bond may save them both.

Teenage Emma arrives with her newborn son, Roman, desperate to prove she can parent despite a chaotic past, an absent father and a mother lost in addiction. Casey’s first mother-and-baby placement quickly becomes a battle to keep the tiny family together.

Eight-year-old Spencer walks into social services and begs to be taken into care, while his parents dismiss him as evil. Placed with Casey, his stealing, aggression and constant absconding push everyone to the limit until the truth about his upbringing emerges.

Ashton, nine, and Olivia, six, arrive filthy, infested and terrified, with no sense of basic boundaries after years of neglect. As Casey teaches them ordinary family life, the siblings slowly reveal the shocking abuse that turned their home into a prison.

Sophia is twelve but looks and acts much older, flirting with every man she meets while treating women with open contempt. In Casey’s home, shocking behaviour and sudden violence hint at a buried childhood trauma that must be uncovered before someone gets seriously hurt.

Justin has spent years ricocheting between failed foster placements after deliberately setting fire to his family home as a child. When he arrives with Casey and Mike, his rage and violence seem impossible to reach, until painful secrets from his past finally surface.