Jade Kelly’s book ‘The Bad Room’ is a true story of survival.
In it, she shares details of the emotional, physical and mental abuse she suffered as a child.
Jade, is an ambassador for the Maggie Oliver Foundation, which supports survivors of abuse.
The foundation was set up by the police detective turned whistleblower, Margaret Oliver who resigned from Greater Manchester Police and exposed the now infamous Rochdale grooming scandal.
Jade, has rebuilt her life and has been manager of The Navigation pub since moving to Ripon in 2019.
Author Jade Kelly hopes that experiences shared in her book will help others
Following publication of her debut book, she has been invited to speak with professionals across the UK involved in child safeguarding and protection issues.
Jade told the Stray Ferret:
“I hope that by sharing my experiences, I can help them identify tell-tale signs of emotional, physical and mental abuse.”
She added:
“Now that the covid lockdown is lifting, I will be allowed to visit academies and other organisations to talk with them and answer questions.”
For Jade and three other young girls placed in the ‘care’ of a foster mother in Lancashire, the abuse suffered was relentless.
Over six years, their shared bedroom became ‘The Bad Room’ where they were shut up for 16 hours at a time.
They were not allowed to speak and beaten if they made a sound.
The children were banned from using the toilet and often wet the bed, going to school the next day stinking of urine.
They were starved and had to get by on titbits of stolen food.
For Jade, who had previously suffered abuse at the hands of her birth mother and stepfather, the move to foster care when she was ten, should have brought salvation.
However, after a year of being well-treated, the abuse began as soon as the visits of social workers became less frequent.
She said:
“The foster mother was very calculating and would find ways of making it look as though everything was fine for me and the other girls.
“We were too frightened to say anything to the social workers, because we knew it would result in more beatings.”
Jade was kicked, punched, and had hair pulled out.
But there was always a plausible reason given for bruises, cuts and other injuries suffered.
During her GCSE year, the foster mother destroyed all her artwork and English coursework.
Jade, pointed out:
“I had eight weeks to replace a year’s worth of work, but I did it.
“She could destroy my work, but I wasn’t going to let her destroy me.”
When the authorities eventually realised what had been going on, Jade was placed with a caring family and subsequently found justice.
The Bad Room, published by Harper Collins, is available at The Little Ripon Bookshop, Waterstones and WH Smith.
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