Cathy Glass - Another Forgotten Child

Contents

What! I gasped, glancing up from reading the referral.

Jill nodded sombrely. Read on. It doesnt get any better. Jill was my support social worker (also known as a link worker) from Homefinders, the agency I fostered for. We were in my sitting room and Jill was watching me carefully as I read the details of the eight-year-old girl the social services were bringing into care and looking for a foster home for.

I continued to read:

I turned the page and under the heading Family members and other related persons I read that Aimee had five older half-brothers and -sisters, all of whom had different fathers and all of whom had been taken into care as young children. The eldest of the siblings was now twenty-seven and the family had been known to the social services since he was born twenty-seven years ago!

So why didnt the social services bring Aimee into care sooner? I asked, looking up at Jill. With the mothers history of drug abuse and being unable to care for her children, why leave Aimee at home for eight years?

It looks as if Aimee fell through the net, Jill said. She was on the child protection register at birth.

At birth! All that time eight years and no one intervened?

I know, Jill sighed.

I leant back in my chair and stared at the referral in my hand. In the twenty-five years Id been fostering Id looked after children before whod fallen through the net, which meant they had been overlooked or simply forgotten by the social services and society generally. How many more children were going to be left unprotected before sweeping changes were made to our social services system? A child is placed on the child protection (CP) register, also known as the at risk register, when there are serious concerns for his or her safety. Such a measure is supposed to be a short-term one to allow help to be put into the family, resulting in either the child being removed from the register when the concerns have gone or, if no improvements are made, the child being brought into care. Clearly in Aimees case neither had happened; and while what Id read about Aimees background was bad, it wasnt enough to explain the disturbed and aggressive behaviour Aimee was exhibiting.

Jill seemed to think so too. The social services are applying for a care order based on severe neglect, she said, but theres a good chance Aimee has been abused as well. Shes very angry. I nodded. A new social worker took over the case two months ago and couldnt understand why Aimee hadnt been brought into care sooner. Questions are now being asked in the department.

I should think so! I said. I dread to think what has gone on at home to make Aimee behave as she does.

Jill nodded. The case is in court on Thursday, and in view of Aimees reported cruelty to children and animals the social worker is looking for a foster family with no young children and preferably no pets.

And I fit the bill, I said with a knowing smile. For my children Adrian, Lucy and Paula were twenty-one, nineteen and seventeen respectively, and our cat, Toscha, had died from old age a few years previously.

Obviously it has to be your decision as to whether you offer to take Aimee, Jill said. Shes a very damaged child.

Very, I said, and we both fell silent. Jill looked at me as I sat deep in thought. I knew I had to make a decision now. It was Tuesday and Jill had said the case was in court on Thursday, when the social services would have to show the judge that they had a suitable foster carer ready to take Aimee if the judge granted a care order. At present Aimee was still living at home.

The mothers flat is on the other side of town, Jill offered, after a moment. So you are unlikely to bump into her. I understand Susan can be aggressive and has threatened the foster carers of the older siblings so much so that all the children have been moved to foster homes out of the county.

Im not so much worried about bumping into Aimees mother, I said. Its happened before with other children Ive fostered. But I am concerned about the impact looking after Aimee will have on Paula. As you know, Adrian is away at university, and Lucy has finished studying and is often out with her friends after work in the evening. But Paula is at home and has her A-level exams in six months time.

I am sure you will be able to settle Aimee quickly, Jill said with far more confidence than I felt.

I have big reservations. I have a nasty feeling something dreadful has happened to Aimee to make her behave so cruelly.

Agreed, Jill said. Do you know who Aimee reminded me of when I first read the referral?

No. Who?

Jodie.

I held Jills gaze and my heart sank. Jodie (the girl whose story I told in Damaged ) was the most disturbed child Id ever looked after. Id fostered her for a year, three years previously, before a psychiatrist recommended that she should live in a therapeutic residential home. Jodies highly disturbed behaviour was the result of years of abuse, including being passed around a paedophile ring. Jodie had been eight when shed arrived the same age as Aimee.

What makes you say that? I asked after a moment, as a cold shiver ran down my back. Theres no suggestion in the referral that Aimee has suffered the level of abuse Jodie did, and theres no mention of sexual abuse.

No, but I think theres a lot the social services dont know in this case, and Aimees violent behaviour is very similar to Jodies. Theres a reason why shes behaving as she is.

I had to agree. My thoughts returned to Jodie. Her behaviour had been so violent that in the four months shed been in care before coming to me, shed had five foster carers, all of whom had been unable to cope with her aggressive behaviour, and my family and I had struggled to cope as well.

At least Aimee wont have been moved around, I said, thinking out loud. Shell be coming from home straight to me.

So youll take her? Jill asked eagerly.

I nodded. I just hope my children are as understanding with Aimee as they were with Jodie.

Im sure they will be, Jill said.

Youve done what! Paula cried, staring at me in disbelief. Youve never agreed to take her? I dont believe it! You havent thought about me at all! What about my feelings? I wont be able to have any of my friends round and I wont be able to study. How could you, Mum? Theres nothing else for it, youre forcing me to move out. Paula turned and flounced out of the room and upstairs.

Well done, Cathy, I thought. You handled that well. Full marks for tact and diplomacy. Paula! I called after her, but shed disappeared into her bedroom and had shut the door. I knew better than to follow her; to try to talk to her now would do more harm than good. She needed some cooling-off time as I did, too.