Fridays Fostering Blog
Today Alice has gone to the local theme park with the local disabled club. We have organised transport to collect her which gives us an extra long day. She is collected just before nine O’clock. We have arranged for an overnight respite stay tonight and the carer will collect her when she arrives back on transport from the theme park this afternoon. This means we are able to leave as soon as she’s picked up in the morning. We have already packed the car, and after a quick pit stop to the petrol station, we head straight down the motorway to Wales to visit my Aunt and Uncle.
We have been trying to do this visit for a while as my Aunt has been quite unwell. She is my Nan’s sister and is getting on in years. I have always been close to her – spent many holidays with her as a child. I don’t want to have any regrets of not having spent time with my family before it is too late. So we are trying to make the best of opportunities when they arise.
We decided to make the most of the respite I had already booked – leaving first thing and then booking a hotel for the night means we get to spend much longer with my Aunt before we have to return home. We had already made the decision not to take Alice with us to Wales, because the last time she came she grabbed my Aunt around the legs to give her a hug. She inadvertently caused two large ulcers on my Aunts legs – which took over 6 months to heal. Whilst she did not do this deliberately, she does not listen to instruction. It is too much of a risk to my Aunts health for anything like this to happen again.
Not only do we get to see my Aunt, we also get to see my cousin and his son. And probably most importantly to Lauren we get to see my cousin’s dog who she adores. The down side of this though, is that Lauren starts up the “can we get a dog?” conversation. This is not something on our to do list at the moment, so we have to come up with a few watertight reasons why it is not a good time to get a dog. I think life with two daughters, one foster daughter with physical, emotional and learning disabilities, along with the kittens and the guinea pigs is quite enough for now!!
A Less Ordinary Family Foster Care Blog
