Foster carer visit

The day started horribly. A man from our electricity company came to change our meter and set off the house alarm at 8.10 am. No matter what we did, it just kept going off for about half an hour. I had to go to apologise to our neighbours later! Then a piece from the curtain pulling system fell off in the kitchen, and half an hour later one of the kitchen cupboard doors came unhinged. Glen was fed up with just about everything by about 11 am, and I was getting more and more nervous as the morning went by. Eventually we calmed down, re-read our questions for the foster carer, and got ready.

Miranda was supposed to come half an hour before the other social workers and the foster carer, but she was delayed and ended up arriving 15 minutes after they did. We were only expecting Boy H’s social worker and his foster carer, but his family finder also turned up. I’m not sure what I expected the foster carer to be like, but she was very warm, very friendly, and very funny! She had us laughing within 5 minutes of walking through the door. We talked about Boy H, and she answered all our questions. She also gave us some pictures that she took this morning. The social workers frowned at this, and said that we’d need to return them if the match doesn’t go ahead. Everything she said about Boy H and how far he’s come since he went into foster care was really encouraging. She gave us really good advice about what to expect and how to deal with his behaviour. We were on our own with her for a few minutes when we showed her around the house and she took the opportunity to give us her phone number in case we come up with any questions. She also told us that she thinks we will make good parents for him. We were really moved and came downstairs to rejoin the social workers really encouraged.

They left shortly after that and will get in touch with Miranda shortly (hopefully by tomorrow) to let us know if they want to go further with us. Before they left, I asked about the fact that H had appeared in the childspotting publication again, and they replied that any enquiries they get will be shelved and enquirers will be told that the child is being matched.

Once they had gone, Miranda told us that she thought the visit had gone well and gave us the provisional dates for the planning meeting, panel, and introductions that they’ve pencilled in. We are really pleased and really beginning to believe this may be it, but we’ll wait until tomorrow before we get too carried away.