A Dark Secret: Part 3 of 3

I knew the official line would remain the same till Sam was formally assessed – that he was so unstable, and violent, that they were better off without him. And possibly he them – after all, he was down as query autistic, and, as night followed day, there would be an automatic assumption that he’d find it hard to form attachments, and that he might end up in residential care anyway.

But once they saw the progress he’d made, they would surely rethink. It might not make a huge difference – it was likely that, at some stage, they would both be adopted; they were both still young enough, anyway – and if that happened the council would have no control over whether a relationship with Sam would continue. But it was surely worth fighting for, wasn’t it? And all the time he was in foster care, it would still be on the table. And, in Mrs Gallagher, there was an ongoing link which might otherwise cease to exist.