![]() Lucy has yet to enter the family.Īnna has gone through two foster carers in a week with one very experienced. In the timeline of Cathy’s family this takes place a few years after John left them when Paula is four and Adrian is eight. She was taken under a Section 20 in which Elaine and Ian would share parental rights with social services with a goal of reuniting the child with their family. ![]() Things reached a crisis point at Christmas and Ian left Elaine and Anna andĮlaine totally devastated by the situation begged the social services to take Anna into care. At6 this point they are at the end of their rope. Part two takes place a few years after Anna comes to England. It was so sad and frustrating to see the family spiral down when you could see from the first full week as a family even before cominbg to the UK that things were going off on the wrong foot. However the couple kept hoping she’d somehow turn the corner. This included never sleeping in her own bed, and basically eating, playing with, and basically doing what she wanted when she wanted.įor a traumatized child feeling the parent is in control and they can be kept safe, especially from their own overwhelming feelings of rage and terror, and other mixed emotions is essential. They simply let Anna do whatever she wanted. It is clear that neither Ian nor Elaine are at all confident in parenting in general,not being able to say no or give any expectations or boundaries. Part one outlines the family transitioning Anna fromher country of origin to the US, the court proceedings and their first few weeks with Anna. They thought her emotional blankness, hyperactivity, and lack of affection were due to all the huge changes in her life and that with their love and a good home she would soon settle. They followed all the right procedures for visiting and getting to know Anna. Ian and Elaine with no time to greive their long awaited baby girl had to switch mentally and emotionally to the fact that they’d be parenting a toddler. ![]() And the conditions in the orphanage were absolutely horrific and described in detail.Īt the time Ian and Elaine felt very sorry for Anna’s mother as she was putting her child up for adoption it was said to work in another country where she could have a “better life.” It wasn’t known til years later that her mother was abusive and neglectful to Anna. She was two years old and she had spent times in the orphanage as well as living with her natural mother. They come there with their dream of adopting a baby finally coming true, only to find out that the baby died and a care worker simply told them to “pick another one.” As if children were items in a store.Ĭompletely heartbroken they were about to fly home and simply give up on ever having children, when their adoption worker said there was another extremely child that they could adopt. It is written in two parts, the first part is an account of Ean and Elaine’s journey in a unnamed northeastern European country. This book centers on Anna who at 2 years old, is adopted by a childless couple Ian and Elaine. I just finished reading Cathy Glass’s latest fostering memoir A Long Way from Home.
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