Saturday’s Fostering Blog
We went to visit some friends today who we haven’t seen since they moved to London 18 months ago. Lauren had been invited to party weeks ago, and we had already said she could go, so we arranged for her to go to a school friends house for the day, and her friends mum would take them both to the party.
Rather than the long drive down to London, we decided to meet our friends half way at a National Trust property. It was such a good idea, until we got there and realised that the main house was not open! After a short bracing walk in winter temperatures, we found they had opened one of the barns, and had a few activities on for children to take part in. After we had exhausted all the activities we made our way to the restaurant for lunch.
This is often a time when Alice can be at her worse, behaviour-wise. It wasn’t long before we had to separate her from Annie. Without Lauren for her to bicker with, she turned her attention to Annie. It is amazing that we have got so used to Lauren and Alice squabbling, that sometimes we just don’t notice. Annie could not help herself biting back at every quip thrown her way. Alice started up her old game of “she’s looking at me”, to which we respond “well don’t look at her then”.
It was quite remarkable, Annie is really not used to all the negative attention. It really reminded us what Lauren often has to put up with. We had a quiet word with Annie when we got a chance and we explained how much Lauren has to take from Alice on a daily basis. She had a glimpse of Lauren’s world and she didn’t like it!
Fortunately that was the worst of Alice’s behaviour, she spent the rest of the afternoon trying to charm our friends. They know her well and fortunately do not
succumb to her subtle manipulation.
Later in the afternoon, we ordered a round of drinks. Alice disappeared. We were all chatting and hadn’t noticed her go. After a few seconds we were relieved to see her. Although once we spotted her we noticed that she had taken herself off in her wheelchair and was sat chatting to a man and his son. We are reminded again how vulnerable she is. She has no stranger danger at all, and felt perfectly comfortable going off to chat to a complete stranger. We know that Lauren and Annie would never in a million years go off and chat to a stranger. There is still so much work to do with Alice.
A Less Ordinary Family Foster Care Blog
