‘That can cause an allergic reaction too,’ she said with anxious satisfaction. I noticed she was becoming more agitated as she spoke, while Filip sat with his eyes down, concentrating on the table, apparently completely out of his depth.
‘How do these allergic reactions manifest themselves?’ Preeta asked. I’d written allergies on my notepad ready to list them, but so far I’d just put bubble bath, which I didn’t use anyway.
‘My children get a temperature and start vomiting,’ Aneta said animatedly. ‘I have to get an emergency appointment at the doctor’s or call an ambulance. But it stops as suddenly as it starts.’
‘Do they have a rash?’ I asked.
‘Sometimes, but usually they vomit.’ Her face crumpled and her tears fell again. ‘You should never have taken my children away,’ she said to Tess. ‘I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m innocent. I love my children and they need me. I’m the only one who can look after them.’
Filip placed a reassuring hand on his wife’s arm but didn’t look at her or speak. I thought he was barely coping too.
‘I love my children,’ Aneta wept. ‘I’m a good mother. My only crime was to take them to the doctor’s if they were ill, or if they fell and hurt themselves. They bruise easily. I’m being punished for looking after them properly. It’s not right.’ So upset and sincere, it again flashed across my mind that I hoped the social services had got it right in bringing the children into care.
‘So to be clear,’ Tess said. ‘There is nothing specific you can tell Cathy about which foods trigger an allergic reaction in either of your children?’
‘No,’ Aneta said, wiping her eyes.
‘Have you ever kept a food diary?’ Tess asked. ‘It’s often recommended by doctors as a way of finding out what a child is allergic to. You keep a record of what they have eaten and any symptoms they have experienced.’
‘No,’ Aneta said, ‘because it’s not just food. It’s lots of things, not even the doctors know.’
‘Cathy,’ Tess said, turning to me, ‘can you start a food diary, please? Note everything the children eat and drink, and obviously seek medical help if necessary.’
‘Yes, of course,’ I said, and wrote food diary on my notepad. ‘I assume a peanut allergy has been ruled out?’ I asked. ‘The children have never suffered from anaphylactic shock and have auto-injectors?’ I thought something as serious as this would have been mentioned by now, but the children had been placed with me so quickly I decided it was best to ask.
‘No, they don’t,’ Aneta said.
There was a short silence and I wondered if Tess was expecting me to continue talking about how the children had settled in, but instead she said, ‘Cathy, is there anything else you want to ask Aneta and Filip that would help in the care of the children? I’m mindful of the time.’
‘Knowing the children’s routine would be useful,’ I said. ‘I’ll keep to it as much as possible. Also, I’m assuming there is a follow-up appointment at the fracture clinic?’
‘It’s on Monday morning,’ Aneta said, wiping her eyes. ‘I’ve got an appointment card at home, and a fact sheet about the care of the plaster cast the nurse gave to me.’
‘Could you bring them to contact today, please?’ I asked.
‘I’ll bring the sheet, but you won’t need the appointment card. I’ll take Kit to the hospital,’ Aneta said. ‘They know me there.’
I left it to Tess to explain. ‘While the children are in care, Cathy will take them to any medical appointments.’
‘But I want to go!’ Aneta exclaimed.
‘That wouldn’t be appropriate,’ Tess said gently but firmly. ‘You’ll be seeing the children regularly at the Family Centre. It would be confusing and upsetting for them if you just appeared.’
‘But they’re my children. It’s not right. You won’t even tell me where they are staying. I should be with them when they’re ill.’ Aneta was crying again and I felt so sorry for her. Of course a mother would want to be with her children when they were poorly, but Molly and Kit were in care because of possible abuse, so she couldn’t be alone with them at all. Contact at the Family Centre would be supervised.
‘I’ll take good care of them, I promise you,’ I said to her.
‘But it’s not right. I always go with them to the hospital,’ Aneta persisted. ‘I know the staff and they know me.’
Filip now spoke for the first time. ‘Leave it, Aneta,’ he said firmly. ‘We have to do what they say now.’ There was an edge of recrimination in his voice and I assumed he was blaming Aneta for the children being taken into care.
‘Can you tell Cathy something about the children’s routine?’ Tess prompted.
Aneta shook her head. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘What time they go to bed. What they like doing during the day. When they have their meals. That sort of thing,’ Tess said.
‘I can’t remember, I can’t think straight,’ Aneta said. ‘I’m too upset.’
‘It’s OK,’ I said, my heart going out to her. ‘It’s not essential.’
‘Do you know the children’s routine?’ Tess asked Filip.
‘No, I’m at work. I don’t know what they do all day. Aneta gets them up after I’ve left in the morning and they’re in bed by the time I get home. I work a lot of overtime to make ends meet.’
‘Weekends?’ Tess asked.
‘I work most weekends too,’ he said. So it appeared he had very little input in his children’s lives.
‘What sort of things do the children like to do?’ I asked.
Aneta shrugged.
‘Do they go to nursery or a pre-school play group?’ Preeta asked.
‘No,’ Aneta said. ‘I took Molly once when she was little, but she didn’t like it. All those children. She got pushed over and hurt her knee. I had to take her to the hospital. I worry about germs. They get ill so easily.’
I nodded and made a note, then asked, ‘Would it be possible for the children to have some more of their clothes and toys? I can buy new ones, but it’s nicer for them if they have what is familiar.’
Aneta was in tears again, but Filip said, ‘I’ll see to it.’
‘Thank you,’ I said.
‘Can you take them with you to contact tonight?’ Tess asked Filip. He nodded. ‘Is there anything either of you want to ask?’
Aneta didn’t reply, but Filip said, ‘How long will my children be in care?’
‘We don’t know at present,’ Tess replied. ‘If you stay behind at the end of this meeting we can have another chat.’ I was sure she would have explained the procedure to them already, but doubtless with the worry of it all Filip had forgotten. ‘Anything else?’ Tess asked, glancing around the table. ‘OK, in that case, I’ll see you at contact at four o’clock.’
I stood to leave as the others remained seated, but as I did Aneta suddenly asked me, ‘Do my children miss me?’
‘Yes, of course,’ I said.
A small smile crossed her face. ‘Good. I wondered if they’d be pleased to be away from me.’
I was surprised by her comment but thought she