A Fostering Journey 69

We were preparing for our next contact between the babies and their Mum. We had set off at our normal time and, as usual, the traffic was horrendous. We kept in contact with the LASW (Local Authority Social Worker) letting her know where we were and our estimated time of arrival. We finally arrived about 20 minutes before contact was due to commence. We waited until the time was due for Mum to arrive and then we would leave. However Mum never arrived. The LASW tried to call her but there was no answer. It was so unbelievably frustrating for us. We waited for 30 minutes after the due time but then, with the consent of the LASW, we packed the babies in the car and left. We said to the LASW that if Mum turned up, within reasonable time we would return but we heard nothing. We got home and unloaded the little ones who had been asleep for the whole journey. We made them lunch and they got some play time on the floor with yours truly. They both went off to sleep shortly afterwards and we got some time to relax and chill. It is quite stressful to get up early, get two babies dressed and fed and then have an 60 to 90 minute drive through heavy rush hour traffic and then do it all in reverse. I called the LASW but she had heard nothing from Mum. She promised to update us as soon as she heard anything. We updated our SSW (Supervising Social Worker) on what had happened and she reminded us that we had been told that if Mum didn’t turn up again then contact would cancelled moving forward. We had forgotten about those conversations but it wasn’t for us to bring that up that’s for the LASW and her manager. Our SSW said that she would support whatever decision was made and we said the same. It was still relatively quick in the placement for us to be making any kind of demands. The following day we had a call from the LASW who told us that she still hadn’t heard anything, from Mum, and that contact was going to be put on hold until we heard her reason for non attendance. The next day or so went quietly and nobody had heard anything from Mum. We then got a call from the Social Work Manager from the Local Authority. She had made the decision to stop contact as it was unfair on us and the babies to turn up weekly for no reason. We weren’t disappointed but, if the babies were older and more, aware it would have been a lot more uncomfortable to tell them that contact had been stopped. Promoting contact has always been a big thing for us and we would never ask for contact to be stopped, that is the decision for the LASW and the Local Authority, not the humble Foster Carer.