Tiny Prisoners by Maggie Hartley

Author:Maggie Hartley [Hartley, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409165378
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2016-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Sock Wars

There was a knock at the door and I ran to answer it.

‘That will be Andrew,’ I said to Evie and Elliot.

It was the new year and this was our first meeting with the new social worker who’d been appointed after Jenny had left. Much to my amusement, my first impression of Andrew was that he was another version of Simon.

‘Nice to meet you, Maggie,’ he said, shaking my hand. ‘Now where are Evie and Elliot who I’ve been hearing so much about?’

He was a good twenty years younger than Simon and dressed in jeans and a jumper rather than the hippy clothes that Simon liked, but they both had a similar solid, calm presence about them.

Andrew was keen to meet the children straight away. I took him through to the kitchen and he immediately got down on the floor and started playing cars with them. He was very natural and I could see they were intrigued.

‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ I said.

Evie was wary of this strange man at first but I could tell that Elliot was terribly impressed as Andrew whizzed the cars around the mat, making revving noises. Soon both children were joining in with him and he spent a good thirty minutes with them before we had a chat and a cup of tea.

‘I’m very impressed with how well the children interacted with me,’ he said. ‘I didn’t expect that. They’ve obviously come a long way since they’ve been placed with you.’

Thankfully one of the first things he wanted to talk to me about was the contact visits.

‘I know one of the issues that you’re concerned about is contact with Evie and Elliot’s mum.’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Just before Christmas things reached breaking point. The children just don’t want to see her and it’s causing them huge amounts of upset and distress.’

‘Well, you’re with the children 24/7 so I think it’s important that we take your views on board,’ he said.

I was so pleased that he wanted to hear my opinion about things.

‘I know my manager at Social Services has been talking to Simon’s manager at your agency and both of them feel that the issue of contact with the children’s mother needs looking at again.

‘Despite a number of chances, Mum has proved unreliable at the best of times about even turning up to see the kids, so we’re going to recommend to the courts that it’s not in Evie and Elliot’s best interests to keep pursuing regular contact.’

It was a massive relief to know that they wouldn’t have to go through that trauma and distress week in week out.

‘Before we do that, though, I’d like to ask the children what they think about seeing their mummy,’ he said.

‘Of course,’ I told him.

Elliot must have overheard what Andrew said because he suddenly piped up, ‘What did you say? Do we have to see Mummy?’

Andrew got off his chair and sat down with him on the floor.

‘What do you think, Elliot? Do you want to see her?’

‘No,’ he said firmly.

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