BRITAIN’S MOST VULNERABLE CHILDREN ARE STILL SUFFERING ABUSE IN HOMES.

DAMAGED IS AN EXPOSING ACCOUNT OF THE REALITIES OF GROWING UP IN CARE.

 

‘We were just sacks of flesh existing as punch bags for their rage or toys for their entertainment.’

 

Chris Wild lost his dad when he was 11 and was sent to live, grow and be nurtured in the care system. There, he witnessed the incessant physical and sexual abuse of vulnerable children, and found the only route of escape led to a new home on the streets. He found so many others just like him, failed by the systems put in place to protect vulnerable children, leaving them with nothing but drink, drugs, prostitution and crime to become their normality.

 

After moving away from Halifax to pursue his dreams, he still couldn’t escape from the voices in his head – those of the victims he had met and couldn’t forget. Chris began working in a care home himself to change the narrative for today’s children, but what he saw there shocked him. Abuse was still rife, children were still being failed, and the vulnerable still had no chances in life.

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This is a heart-breaking memoir that relays Chris’ memories of the care system with the stories of all the boys, girls, men and women he met along the way – all who shared his desperation for survival. Damaged exposes why we must take action now to protect all of Britain’s most vulnerable children.

 

Chris Wild is now a 39-year-old husband and father of two beautiful children. He says: “Damaged is a book for everyone and anyone who’s ever lost someone. It’s for all the vulnerable young people stuck in the care system, it’s for the adults who suffer with addiction or Mental illness.  It's for the general public so that they can reach out to that person in need, those still looking for a reason, an answer, a solution. I was able to get through my difficult time because of books like Damaged, books that inspired me to use my life experience and my past in a positive way. 

 

 “I want Damaged to inspire people to speak up and speak out.  I want it to resonate a chord with the untuned, those sat behind a desk pulling the strings, those at the top making life changing decisions. But most of all its about personal success, forgiveness, it’s about standing up, moving forward, living life. Whatever trauma you've been through take control, own it, it belongs to you.” 

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