In the latest round of meetings, there's been a whole lot of comments from professionals that clearly illustrate their lack of understanding on Attachment and Trauma. I've had to hear " he needs to learn ", " it's time for tough love", " that's not how I see him and I've spent an hour with him" amongst others! As the dreaded eighteenth birthday approaches, his anxiety builds and things begin to unravel. As the only unpaid professional working with my child, surprise, surprise, when it all went wrong, who was the person to sort it out? Oh, yes, that'd be me then! Despite the fact I alerted everyone yesterday, my boy didn't make it to his course. To get things back on track today, it was me that eased him from his bed after just an hour and a half's sleep this morning. I rubbed his back, hugged and rocked him to distract him from punching the wall. I soothed him into the shower, unclogging the plug of hair from the bath so
This week should be a happy, exciting time. It's the first week if the Easter break. My boy, who is almost 18 has found himself a traineeship in football, something he loves. Sadly, this week has been ruined. There was great hope, at the start of the week. I was hopeful that on Tuesday, at a meeting of professionals, I would find out that appropriate care would be in place to help my son in the difficult transition towards adulthood. Sadly, as so often us the case, when attending meetings with the local authority, there was no positive news. To explain the context: My lovely boy came to.me aged three and a half. He had suffered appalling neglect and abuse for his first two and a half years. In the year he spent in care, he had been in multiple foster care placements. He brought with him a whole package if complex needs arising from his terrible early experiences. Like many traumatised young people, my boy found it incredibly hard to settle into family life. He found school even