Cathy Glass - Unwanted: The care system failed Lara. Will she fail her own child?

Certain details in this story, including names, places and dates,

have been changed to protect the familys privacy.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

HarperCollinsPublishers

Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper

Dublin 1, D01 C9W8, Ireland

First published by HarperElement 2023

FIRST EDITION

Cathy Glass 2023

Cover layout design HarperCollinsPublishers 2023

Cover photograph Stanislav Solntev/Trevillion Images (posed by models)

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Cathy Glass asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green

Source ISBN: 9780008584429

Ebook Edition February 2023 ISBN: 9780008584436

Version: 2023-11-23

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

• Change of font size and line height
• Change of background and font colours
• Change of font
• Change justification
• Text to speech
• Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008584429

A big thank-you to my family; my editors, Ajda and Holly; my literary agent, Andrew; my UK publisher HarperCollins, and my overseas publishers, who are now too numerous to list by name. Last, but definitely not least, a big thank-you to my readers for your unfailing support and kind words. They are much appreciated.

When I first started writing my fostering memoirs it broke new ground. No one before had written about the hidden, sometimes secretive world of fostering and the social services. Over the years Ive received thousands of emails and messages from around the world, many from care-leavers. While some said their time in care was a positive one, many did not, which saddens me greatly. Some felt they were not cared for or loved, and far too many had multiple placements. Some had to move upwards of thirty, fifty or more times. How could this be allowed to happen?

This is the story of Frazer and Lara. Their lives began very similarly. Frazers mother managed a drug fix just before she went into labour and Laras just after shed given birth. She was found injecting herself in the hospital toilet.

Chapter One

It was the end of October. My previous foster children had just left and I was anticipating a few days, maybe even a week, child-free, when I hoped to be able to wind down after a rather traumatic year fostering during the pandemic. I could catch up with friends and my family.

My adult son, Adrian, was married to the lovely Kirsty. My daughter Lucy was living happily with her partner, Darren, and had blessed me with my first grandchild, Emma, now two and a half, and a treasure who made us all smile. My other daughter Paula was still living with me, so there was just the two of us and our rescue cat, Sammy, at home. Id been divorced for many years. Paula had recently returned to work after being furloughed during the peak of the pandemic, so it felt as if life was gradually returning to normal. Of concern was that the R number used to calculate the spread of the coronavirus was rising, particularly in some areas. We were regularly reminded on television and billboards to stay safe by sanitizing our hands, wearing a face mask in enclosed public spaces and social distancing. This had become known as the hands, face, space rule.

It was Thursday morning when Joy Philips, my supervising social worker (SSW), telephoned. All foster carers in the UK have a supervising social worker whose job it is to support, monitor, advise and guide the carer and their family in all aspects of fostering. They also advise the carer on their training requirements and generally make sure the children in their care are well looked after.

How are you? Joy asked. It wasnt simply a polite question. The pandemic was still ongoing so she needed to know.

Well, I confirmed.

No one in your household is having to self-isolate or is awaiting a Covid test result? She asked this most times she phoned.

No.

Good. So youre ready to take your next child? Referrals usually come through the carers SSW.

Yes, although I was hoping to take a few days off.

Sometimes it felt like a never-ending stream of children coming through my door who for various reasons couldnt live at home. Yet despite fostering over 150 children since I began all those years ago, I always gave each child the love and care they needed and deserved. My daughter Lucy arrived as a foster child and became my adopted daughter. Other children have returned home or gone to forever families.

You will be able to take some time off as this placement isnt needed until Monday, Joy said.

All right. Good.

Its for a little boy, Arthur, hes just one year old. He went to an emergency carer yesterday, but she can only keep him for the weekend so he will need to be moved on Monday.

OK. Why is he in care?

Suspected non-accidental injuries, Joy said, and my heart went out to him. His mother has been struggling for a while. She went to the doctor about herself, but the doctor noticed bruises on the childs face. He examined the child and found more bruises on his legs and body. His mother is denying harming him and says he is accident-prone.

I can take him on Monday, I confirmed.

Thank you. Ill let his social worker know and shell be in touch.

We said goodbye.

The poor child, I thought. Id fostered children before whod arrived with suspected non-accidental injuries, including cigarette burns, scalds, cuts and bruises, and it didnt get any easier. But I put my concerns for him aside for now Id do enough worrying once he arrived and continued with my day as planned. I spent the afternoon with Lucy and Emma and on my way home dropped in at Adrians. He was still working from home but was pleased to have a break. Kirsty, a teacher, was in school. My family lived locally so we were able to see each other regularly. Sadly, my dear parents, whod been so supportive of my fostering, had now passed.

Once home, I prepared dinner for when Paula arrived back from work. Later, as we ate, I told her what I knew of little Arthur and that he would be with us on Monday. I share information with my family on a need-to-know basis. Paula was part of my household so needed to know almost as much as I did, and certainly anything that would affect her. If, for example, a child arrived whod been sexually abused, then we put in place extra measures, especially around bath- and bedtime, and when we had visitors, so that everyone felt safe. Thankfully that wasnt the case with Arthur (as far as I knew), although, like me, Paula was upset that he was thought to have non-accidental injuries. No child should ever suffer.

After wed eaten, Paula went to her room to relax and I watched the evening news. I learnt that cases of Covid were rising around the world and in England they were rising significantly faster than predicted. Secondary school children had the highest rate of transmission, and there was talk of another lockdown.