All about the kids

Here we are, 2 weeks into the new year and 2019 has thrown up more challenges.

Last Wednesday Paul was contacted by family services who had removed the kids from their mothers care after a visit to her home the previous evening. They had the kids in their care until Paul finish work. The plan was for them to meet at Pauls house where they would do the required checks and assessments. This resulted in the kids being left in Pauls care and for him to make arrangements to have sole custody. They would offer as much support as he required and made a time to meet the next day to discuss matters further.

I had been updated by Paul over the day and when I saw them all that evening they had eaten and were settling in. FACs and the police liason had left. The kids had no clothes with them or shoes. Fortunately Paul had PJs and a change of clothes for them but would need more. Family services were aware and would bring clothes the next day. It was obvious that the kids were not aware of the enormity of what had transpired and we as well had little guarantee that the situation would not be challenged. Paul had been told to ring 000 in the event of any trouble occurring.

The FACs meeting was changed to Friday. Paul had let his work know the situation and would need to at least have the rest of the week off.

The kids were happy to have a quiet day at home which suited as the weather and having no shoes restricted a lot of activities.

The meeting on Friday with FACs was helpful. They brought with them newly purchased clothes for the kids. Paul would get them shoes. Until legal advice was sort and official custody in place, school arrangements couldn’t be made. We had voiced our concerns about existing arrangements and they will reaccess/review those concerns.

The weekend had more of the family on deck. We had time to spend with the kids which helped Paul do shopping etc, Sharon and I did a shop to stock up on neccessary items. The kids are in holiday mode but missing their mum.

As Sharon said, it takes a village to raise a child and the village has been activated.