Authors: Cathy Glass
Will You Love Me? (8 page)
When Doris returned to Bonnie’s flat at 5.45 p.m. and rang the bell there was no reply. She was about to call through the letter box when the door to the flat next door opened and the elderly lady Doris had seen that morning appeared.
‘She’s gone,’ the woman said bluntly, as if it was Doris’s fault. ‘Packed her bags and left with the baby about an hour after you left this morning.’
‘I don’t suppose you know where they’ve gone?’ Doris asked, her heart sinking.
‘No. Like I said, she never spoke to me.’ And, returning inside, she closed her front door.
Chapter Seven
It may seem incredible in this age, when there is so much data stored on people, that someone could simply disappear. But on that fine June day when the sun was shining and the air was alive with birdsong, and Lucy was nearly eleven months old, that is what Bonnie did. Fearing Lucy would be taken away from her, she quickly packed her bags and vanished. Had Lucy been the subject of a court order the police would have been alerted, and a missing person bulletin put out. But there was no court order, only a concern of neglect, the level of which hadn’t merited the measure of applying to the court for an emergency protection order. It’s true that the social services could have applied for a court order after Bonnie had gone, but they didn’t, presumably for the same reason one hadn’t been applied for before: that though Lucy had been neglected she wasn’t, as yet, at risk of significant harm – the threshold that needed to be reached before the social services applied for a care order. Had they done so, the police would have been alerted, resulting in a better chance of finding Bonnie and Lucy, and Lucy would have been taken into care.
With no court order and no verifiable details of Bonnie that might have helped trace her, it is likely their case stayed open at the social services for a few months – while Doris checked with Maggie and local agencies to see if anyone had heard from Bonnie – before being filed away until such time as Bonnie and Lucy reappeared. It’s on record that Maggie told Doris she’d telephoned her sister a couple of times during this period to see if she’d heard from Bonnie, but she hadn’t, and Maggie said her sister was so immersed in her own problems that she had little interest in what her daughter and granddaughter were doing or even in whether they were safe.
With no evidence to go on, it’s impossible to know of the life Bonnie and Lucy led during the next fourteen months while they were ‘missing’, but one can guess. Living ‘underground’, away from the attention of the authorities, relies on a hand-to-mouth existence, funded by cash-in-hand jobs if you are lucky, but more likely, borrowing, begging, stealing, prostitution and sleeping wherever you can: in doorways, under bridges, in squats, on someone’s floor, in cheap bed and breakfasts, or in beds with no breakfast. It would have been even more difficult with a baby, but unregistered, unregulated and unscrupulous landlords can be found down the backstreets of any big city, their clientele hearing of their location by word of mouth. These ‘landlords’ cram as many mattresses into a room as it will hold and charge only a few pounds for the night. They are always full. Not only with runaways, but the short- and long-term homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, those with mental-health problems and criminals wanted by the police – of all ages and both sexes. Such places are health hazards and are often responsible for passing on infections; for example, tuberculosis. With no fire escapes they can also be death traps. But if you are avoiding the authorities as Bonnie was, you are unable to obtain benefit money without risk of being discovered.
When Bonnie and Lucy reappeared, fourteen months later, it was in the Accident and Emergency department of a hospital two counties away. It was a Friday afternoon and they were both suffering from highly inflamed rashes that covered large areas of their bodies. They were diagnosed as having scabies. Scabies is caused by parasites burrowing under the skin and laying their eggs. It is most commonly found in those living in overcrowded conditions with poor hygiene. The irritation caused by the infestation is unbearable and most sufferers go to their doctor in the early stages of the disease. The doctor at the hospital noted that these cases were very severe, especially in the child, and had clearly been left untreated for some time, causing the child a lot of distress. The doctor prescribed a lotion, which had to be applied after a bath from the neck down to the toes, left on overnight and then washed off. He explained to Bonnie that a second treatment would be needed a week after the first and told her to go to her own doctor to get the prescription for it and also to have their condition checked. He was concerned that some of the child’s sores were becoming infected, so he also prescribed an antibiotic cream. He explained that scabies was highly contagious and all clothing, bedding and towels used by them must be washed in very hot water and dried in a hot dryer to prevent another infestation. When registering at the hospital, Bonnie had given her address as the flat she’d lived in near her Aunt Maggie and her doctor as the one she’d seen when she’d first arrived at Maggie’s. It is unknown if Bonnie took Lucy to a doctor for a follow-up appointment; she certainly didn’t go to that doctor.
Bonnie and Lucy then disappeared again and reappeared when Lucy was nearly three years old. Bonnie was now living with a man in his thirties called Freddie – and using his surname for her and Lucy. She registered Lucy at a nursery so she could start just after her third birthday, and two nursery teachers made a home visit prior to Lucy starting. These home visits are normal practice in England; they are informal, last about half an hour and give the mother and child a chance to meet the nursery teachers and ask any questions. However, these two teachers were very worried by what they found, especially as their visit had been pre-arranged and was therefore expected. The one-bedroom flat was dirty, smelly and cluttered with bits of car engines, empty beer bottles, plastic fizzy-drink bottles, old pizza boxes and empty crisp packets, all of which Lucy was encouraged to play with in the absence of any children’s toys. There were no beds: Lucy slept with her mother and Freddie under blankets on mattresses on the bedroom floor; none of the rooms in the flat had carpets or curtains. There was a used cat-litter tray in the kitchen, which was badly in need of emptying, and the kitchen and bathroom were filthy. The nursery teachers also later noted that the flat reeked of stale beer, cigarette smoke and a slightly sweet smell, which could have been cannabis.
During their conversation, Bonnie admitted that she was struggling to cope and, far from being supportive, Freddie – who wasn’t present – spent most of his unemployment money on betting, so they never had enough to eat or pay the bills. They were behind with the rent and the landlord was threatening to evict them. Bonnie told the nursery teachers that she and Freddie often argued and he sometimes hit her – in front of Lucy. The teachers noted that Lucy was grubby, small for her age and afraid of strangers. They couldn’t say much about her development from their visit as she hid behind the sofa all the time they were there. When one of them tried to coax her out, she screwed her eyes shut and screamed. Bonnie said they should just leave her there as she was scared of strangers because of some bad experiences they’d had, although she didn’t say what these experiences were. Bonnie also said she hoped Lucy would learn to be less frightened of strangers when she went to nursery and ‘met some nice people’.
The nursery teachers were with Bonnie for over an hour and when they returned to the nursery they immediately held a meeting with their head teacher to report their concerns. The head teacher contacted the social services and two days later a social worker telephoned Bonnie and made an appointment to visit her the following day. Although Bonnie knew in advance that the social worker was visiting (as she had with the nursery teachers), she made no attempt to clean the flat, so it was in much the same condition as the teachers had reported. Freddie was there when the social worker arrived but left straight away, pushing past her in the hall without saying hello.
Bonnie admitted to the social worker that she wasn’t coping and said she felt very low and thought she was suffering from depression, although she hadn’t been to a doctor. The social worker explained to Bonnie that there were concerns about Lucy and tried to persuade Bonnie to see a doctor for her depression. They then discussed various options with regard to Lucy’s care. She was relieved that Bonnie was cooperative and quickly agreed that it would be best if Lucy went into care temporarily as an ‘accommodated child’ (under Section 20 of the Children Act). Often referred to as a ‘Section 20’, this is a voluntary arrangement between the social services and the parent(s) of a child who agree to the child living with a foster carer for a short time. The parent(s) retain full legal parental rights, which they wouldn’t do under any other care order. Approximately a third of children in foster care are ‘accommodated’. There is no court order and the arrangement should encourage a better working relationship between the social worker, the parent(s) and the foster carer. The parent(s) feel less threatened as they retain legal control of their child, have regular and unsupervised contact and can remove the child from foster care at any time. It is supposed to be a short-term measure and should never be used when a child is in danger of being abused; only when there is a good chance of the child being rehabilitated back to live with the parent(s) within a reasonable period.
Having gained Bonnie’s consent, the social worker returned to her office and set about finding a suitable foster carer for Lucy. Annie was identified: she was married, with two young girls of her own, and had been fostering for eighteen months. Under a Section 20 the parents know where the foster carer lives and can go with the social worker to the carer’s home when the child is placed, and so it was with Bonnie.
It was a hot day in late August when Bonnie and Lucy arrived in the social worker’s car. Bonnie carried Lucy into Annie’s hallway. Lucy had her head buried in her mother’s shoulder and was wearing a little pink cotton dress and plastic jelly sandals and was sucking on a grubby rag as a comforter. Bonnie, slightly built, with her hair in a ponytail, was dressed in jeans, T-shirt and badly worn plimsolls. She looked tired and very anxious. Looped over her arm was a supermarket carrier bag containing Lucy’s clothes.
Straight away Annie set about making Bonnie and Lucy feel welcome. She showed them into her living room, made them cold drinks and introduced them to her children, who were off school for the summer holiday. They talked for a while, with her and the social worker doing most of the talking, and then she showed them around the house. Bonnie marvelled at how nice Annie’s house was, and Annie felt sorry for her – she formed the impression that Bonnie hadn’t been in many decent homes, as hers was average and no different from many others. All this time Lucy wouldn’t be put down and when they returned to the living room she again sat on her mother’s lap with her face buried in her chest. Annie asked Bonnie about Lucy’s likes and dislikes and her routine, explaining that the more information she had about Lucy the easier it would be to settle her. Bonnie said that Lucy ate ‘anything really’ and went to bed and got up when she felt like it. Annie then asked if Lucy had a favourite toy – one she liked to take to bed – and Bonnie said, ‘Just that,’ referring to the frayed and dirty rag Lucy was sucking on.
Bonnie and the social worker stayed for an hour and during that time Lucy didn’t say a word or leave her mother’s lap. Despite a lot of encouragement from Annie and her two girls, Lucy sat facing her mother, refusing to look at anyone. Even when Annie’s two girls suggested they could all play in the garden and maybe Lucy would like an ice cream, she didn’t look at them. Bonnie told Annie, as she had the social worker and nursery teachers, that following ‘some bad experiences’ Lucy was afraid of strangers, although she didn’t elaborate.
Eventually the social worker said they should leave so that Annie could settle Lucy. Annie said she’d phone Bonnie to reassure her that Lucy was all right. Bonnie gave Lucy a quick kiss on the top of her head and said: ‘Mummy has to go.’ Standing, she placed Lucy on Annie’s lap and ran down the hall and out of the front door. Lucy immediately began screaming. Rigid with fear, she gripped Annie’s blouse and buried her head in Annie’s chest.
Concerned for Bonnie’s safety and having promised to take her home in her car, the social worker said a quick goodbye and went after Bonnie. She later noted that Lucy’s screaming was so loud it could be heard outside. There was no sign of Bonnie in the street, so she got into her car and returned to the office, intending to phone Bonnie later.
Inside the house, Annie was sitting on the sofa with her arms around Lucy, rocking her gently and quietly, talking to her, trying to reassure her as well as her own children, who were very worried at seeing a child so upset. It took half an hour to calm Lucy sufficiently so that Annie could persuade her to relax her grip a little and raise her head so Annie could wipe away her tears. As she did, Annie saw Lucy’s face properly for the first time. With her petite features, porcelain skin, black silky hair and large dark eyes she was like a little doll; a truly beautiful child, but one who was clearly very scared. Annie also noticed what looked like a bruise on Lucy’s cheek, just below her left eye, which she would mention in her log notes when she wrote them up later. All foster carers have to keep log notes. This is a daily record of the child or children they are looking after and includes appointments the child has, the child’s health and wellbeing, significant events and any disclosures the child may make about their past. When the child leaves the foster carer, this record is placed on file at the social services and can be looked at by the child when they are an adult.
Lucy didn’t speak at all that evening, refused all food and drink and cried so much at bedtime that Annie had to sleep on the floor in Lucy’s room, holding her hand and continuously reassuring her. The following two days were little better; Lucy didn’t speak or eat, cried incessantly and kept taking refuge behind the sofa, although after a lot of persuasion Annie did manage to get her to come out and drink some milk. Too frightened to tell anyone she needed the toilet, unsurprisingly Lucy kept soiling herself and Annie was constantly mopping up with a bucket of hot water and disinfectant, especially behind the sofa where Lucy would run and hide. When Annie telephoned Bonnie each evening, not wanting to worry her, she told her that Lucy missed her but was gradually settling in. It was difficult to know if Lucy was so upset because she was missing her mother. She didn’t ask for her or say ‘mummy’; she just seemed petrified of everyone and everything.