Fostering Blog
Contact Issues.
After the debacle of the missed contact with Mum, James (name changed) hasn’t mentioned his Mum at all and when I asked if he had heard from her he said no.
So after a couple of days of chilling out and enjoying the sunshine I received a call from the Social Worker saying that Mum wanted contact and that she would definitely turn up this time.
I spoke to James who seemed a bit unsure and that he didn’t think Mum would show up again. I attempted to reassure him and he agreed. So a day was sorted with the Social Worker. The night before the contact James rang his Mum and she said she was excited to see him.
We left the house at 9am, after a good breakfast, and hit the South Circular, the M25’s younger brother. After 45 minutes we arrived at the contact centre and were greeted by Mum! As the Social Worker was going to sit in on the contact, I headed off to the delights of Streatham for a mooch of the few shops that were open.
I arrived back to chaos!
James was crying and Mum was screeching at the Social Worker who was trying to calm her down. Mum then stormed out. I sat with James and consoled him. He told me that Mum had decided that she needed more time away from James rather than the 2 weeks that had been agreed.
James went off to the loo and I had a brief chat with his Social Worker. She asked if I would agree for him to be placed with me for longer than the two weeks and that she would talk to my agency. I agreed of course.
The journey home was quiet and subdued. I discussed my conversation with his Social Worker and he seemed pleased that I had agreed to keep him for a longer period. When we got home we had lunch and then took a ball over our local, overgrown, park and had a kick around.
When we got back I received a call from my agency asking if I was prepared to take him longer, which, of course, I agreed to.
My Supervising Social Worker (SSW) visited, the next day, to discuss the extended placement. No time period was discussed but I’m guessing it could be months rather than weeks.
There is no education to worry about and, it seems, no further contact with his Mum. I had booked a break in Spain but it seemed likely that it wouldn’t go ahead anyway.
So James and I sat and chatted about the whole situation. He seemed settled in his placement, we had a good two way relationship and we both enjoyed watching the same thing. I then went through the routine of organising a savings account for him and popping some money in weekly.
We looked through the clothes he had and it was decided that we would organise a visit to the shops to buy him some new clothes as his were a bit on the tatty side and needed an update. James liked his sportswear so we agreed to a trip to Sports Direct for a spend up.
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