Saying Goodbye
Cathy Glass

On Boxing Day night Cathy is woken by a strange noise outside her home. She goes downstairs and gingery opens the front door to find a teenage girl huddle there. She says her name is Lily and Cathy fostered her for two weeks ten years ago!

Shocked, Cathy invites Lily in. She is freezing cold and hasn’t eaten all day. She says very little about herself other than she left Bartrams, a teenage hostel, the year before. The following morning Cathy phones Bartrams but confidentiality forbids them to tell her anything about Lilly.

Lily is staying in bed late and when Cathy goes to check on her she sees her breathing is very heavy and she can’t be woken. She calls an ambulance. The paramedics wake Lily and take her to hospital where she recovers. Cathy has no idea what has led to this but Lily admits she has tried to take her own life six times before. One of the hospital staff suggests it is a cry for help. They discharge her, referring her to the psychiatric team.

Kirsty, Cathy’s daughter-in-law, phones and says she and Adrian are thinking of fostering and can they use her name as a reference. Cathy happily agrees and talks to Kirsty about fostering. That night Lily disappears from her bed and returns the following afternoon. She says she went to see her boyfriend, Steve Walters. The police arrive to speak to Lily. She has been going to the home of Steve and making a nuisance of herself. She is warned that if she goes again she will be cautioned for stalking.

Cathy needs to know more about Lily and phones her old foster carer where she stayed nine years ago. She says she went on for adoption and the adopters phone Cathy. They come to meet her but can’t offer Lily a home.

Lily suddenly tells Cathy she has a daughter, Olivia, who will shortly be two and she wants to see her with a view to parenting her. Cathy is shocked but helps Lily contact the social services to get the process moving. The child has been placed in a fostering for permanency home by the social worker, Eva. Lily has had no contact with her child since she was taken from the hospital at birth. When the couple who have Oliva find out that the mother of their child has reappeared they ask for her to be moved. She is placed with Angela and Peter where she has an accident and breaks her arm.

Lily meets Clem while in hospital again and they decide to travel abroad. Cathy receives a phone call from Lily in Italy where she is planning to stay. There is no mention of her daughter but Lily sounds very happy. Olivia is moved from Angela and Peter but Cathy doesn’t know where. Her involvement is over now. Six months later she receives a phone call from Eva who is trying to contact Lily. She is going to take out a special guardianship order and needs Lily’s consent. Eva and her mother are foster carers and have been for ten years. They are giving Olivia a permanent home. She will be the only child there. It is the best outcome that Cathy could have imagined, and Lily hasn’t tried to take her own life again.