Fostering Blog
Our peaceful week continued! James (name changed) had a good time at school, there were no phone calls, messages or visits and I actually got all my Christmas shopping done. That feeling of dread when a phone rang or the front door bell went off soon disappeared. So it was time to try to make plans for Christmas.
James was of an age that I didn’t need to go over the top with decorations etc. so I bought a 6ft tree and dug out the tree decorations. So I spent a couple of hours decorating the tree, and putting the presents underneath it. I had bought some chocolates for his Social Worker as she was visiting us before Christmas.
When James got home he was quite emotional, looking at the tree and, I expect, remembering past family holidays. He did his homework and we sat and ate dinner. He told me about his day and asked if anything was going on. I said that it was all quiet and he seemed relieved at that. He asked if Paige could come over on Boxing Day and I agreed, of course.
I told him the latest plans for the three days. He was very keen to know what days my sons were coming over. I told him that I had bought the boys and their partners a little something from him as I knew they had bought something for him.
The following day his Social Worker came over for a catch up and James left school early to attend. We relayed our Christmas arrangements and she was very excited for him. He asked her if she had heard from his Mum and she said no, she hadn’t.
He said he would be amazed if she didn’t try to make contact over the holiday period and we replied that we would deal with it. Apparently Mum spends Christmas getting stoned and has all her friends round.
There were no presents for him or no food or celebration of any kind. A couple of years before Mum had pawned the TV to get funds for drugs and James spent Christmas in his room, alone. I told him that I had no plans to get rid of the TV, what would we watch the Boxing Day football on? He smiled and seemed to cheer up after that.
I left them alone for their own chat and went to make tea. I gave them a good half an hour and then took their tea in. They were all good and so I re-joined them. We finished up discussing plans for 2021 and what the Local Authority was likely to want. She reiterated the plan for Mum to go into rehab and that it would be impossible for James to go back until that was completed. They had a suitable place for her which was quite strict and had a good success rate.
However, due to Covid, she would be unable to start any time soon so they had decided to extend his placement indefinitely.
I replied that it was fine for me and James said it was great news, which was nice to hear. After she left we sat and had a chat and he told me he was delighted to be staying longer.
A Simply Fostering Blogging Foster Carer.
