Finding Stevie: Part 3 of 3: A teenager in crisis

‘I will. What time are Verity and her colleague visiting you?’

‘Two o’clock. She wants to speak to Fred and me before he collects Kiri and Liam from school.’ Her voice broke again. ‘Cathy, do you think they’ll take Kiri and Liam into care?’

‘I don’t know, Peggy, but I think you need to be prepared for that possibility.’

‘I couldn’t bear to lose them.’ She cried openly. ‘I’ve lost my daughter and Stevie. If I lose the little ones too, my life won’t be worth living.’

My eyes filled. What could I say? Like other families who faced having their children taken into care, Peggy was devastated, as I knew Fred would be. Although I’d never met Liam and Kiri, I’d heard so much about them from Stevie and Peggy I felt I did know them. I could imagine the heart-breaking scene in their house if they were taken away, with all of them in tears and begging that Kiri and Liam be allowed to stay. How would they cope in the aftermath? I had no idea. As upsetting as that scene would be, worse was the knowledge that it could all have been avoided. If Stevie had felt able to talk to his grandparents when Joey had first asked him to take the indecent images of Liam and Kiri, and Peggy hadn’t now broken the contact rules, none of this would have happened.

‘I’ll tell Stevie,’ I said.

‘Yes, please, and tell him I’m sorry and we love him.’

‘I will. Phone me if you need to,’ I said.

She said a small ‘thanks’ and put the phone down.

With a very heavy heart, I went slowly upstairs to Stevie’s room, dreading what I had to say. I paused outside his door, summoning the courage to knock. ‘Stevie, it’s Cathy. I need to speak to you.’

‘Come in,’ he called.

I went in, leaving the door slightly ajar. Stevie was sprawled on his bed, watching a video on his laptop. Seeing my sombre expression, he immediately sat upright. I took the chair by the small desk.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.

‘Your gran just phoned me. You haven’t spoken to her this evening, have you?’

‘No. I sent a text, but she hasn’t replied. I’m seeing her tomorrow anyway.’

‘I’m afraid you won’t be seeing her tomorrow, Stevie.’ There was no easy way to say this. ‘The four of you – you, your gran, Kiri and Liam – were seen together yesterday by a social worker.’

‘No, I never –’ he began, immediately going on the defensive.

‘Stevie, there is no point in lying. Your gran has just told me she’s been taking Liam and Kiri to see you. A colleague of Verity’s spotted you all together yesterday. This is very serious, Stevie. And after everything that was said to you about not having any contact with Liam and Kiri!’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said with a small, dismissive shrug.

I looked at him carefully and thought he had no idea of the implications of this. ‘Stevie, Verity has told your grandparents that there is a possibility Kiri and Liam will be taken into care.’

The colour drained from his face. ‘They can’t do that! They haven’t done anything wrong.’

‘No, Liam and Kiri haven’t, but your grandparents have, in allowing you to see them.’

‘We won’t do it again, I promise,’ Stevie said, panicking. ‘I’ll tell Verity. I’ll phone her now.’ He grabbed his phone from the bed.

‘She won’t be there now,’ I said. ‘It’s after eight.’

‘I’ll phone her tomorrow morning then. I’ll tell her it was my fault. I asked Gran, and I’m sorry, and it won’t happen again.’

I supposed there was a slim chance this might help, but I didn’t want to give him false hope.

‘There’s no harm in phoning Verity tomorrow if you want,’ I said. ‘But I honestly don’t know how much good it will do.’

‘I’ll make her understand,’ he said. ‘I’ll phone Gran now and tell her I’ll make it OK.’ He had the phone to his ear.

‘I’ll be downstairs if you need me,’ I said, and left his room.

Five minutes later Stevie came down. ‘Gran’s mobile is off, so I tried the house phone. Grandpa answered and said Gran was too upset to talk. One of them will phone when they know what’s happening. Grandpa sounded like he was crying.’ Finally, the enormity of what was happening hit him.

Chapter Twenty-One

Waiting for News (#ub24fa4ab-0a4c-53d5-a78e-ca70f3198e29)

Stevie looked dreadful the following morning – pale, tired and drawn – so I guessed he hadn’t had much sleep either. He didn’t want any breakfast, just a glass of juice.

‘If you’re still going to phone Verity, make sure it’s not while your phone is supposed to be switched off in school,’ I said. ‘We don’t want any more trouble. If she’s not there, leave a message on her voicemail.’

He nodded dejectedly.

‘And please make sure you go to school,’ I added later as I saw him off at the door. ‘There’s nothing you can do, and we’ll be told when there is any news. Take care and phone me at lunchtime if you want to.’ Head down, with his shoulders slumped and school bag hanging desultorily from one arm, he went down the front path and out onto the pavement. A shadow of his former self. I closed the front door.

Before I did anything, I made myself another coffee. I felt shattered from worry and little sleep. Problems that affect the looked-after child affect everyone else in the family. As far as I knew, Stevie hadn’t told Adrian, Lucy or Paula about this new upset – that he’d been seen with Kiri and Liam – and there’d been no time this morning. I didn’t mention it to them. They were all busy getting ready to go to work or college. If necessary, we could talk about it this evening.

I was expecting Verity to phone at some point and she did at midday, her voice business-like, formal and efficient. ‘I’ve just come from a meeting,’ she said. ‘Stevie’s left me a voicemail message, saying he is sorry. I assume you know that Mrs Jones has been taking Liam and Kiri to see Stevie?’

‘I found out last night,’ I said. ‘Peggy telephoned me to tell me what had happened. She was very upset and asked me to tell Stevie. I had no idea prior to last night that Stevie had been seeing Kiri and Liam. I thought he understood he wasn’t to see them while the police investigation was ongoing.’ I felt I should make that clear in case Verity was under the impression I had colluded with them in seeing each other, which would have probably resulted in me being barred from fostering.

‘I’ll see Stevie tomorrow,’ Verity continued. ‘I won’t have time today. Can you send me the dates and times of when Stevie saw his grandmother? Also, any relevant information surrounding those meetings. What he said and so forth.’

‘Yes.’ This is one of the reasons why foster carers are expected to keep accurate log notes.

‘Email them to me, please, as soon as you can.’

‘I’ll do it now,’ I said. ‘Peggy and Stevie are very sorry for what they’ve done.’

‘I know. I understand that Stevie gave his grandmother his old phone and they have been in touch that way.’

‘Yes. Peggy told me you were thinking of taking Kiri and Liam into care.’

‘We will be. That’s what the meeting was about. They’ve given us no choice. If you could send through the details of when they saw each other as soon as possible that would be good. Sorry to rush, I’m really pushed for time.’

I replaced the handset and went into the front room where I sat at the computer, tears welling in my eyes. The decision had been made: Kiri and Liam were being taken into care. I tried to focus on the job in hand. I opened my log notes and did as Verity had asked, and typed the details of when Stevie had seen Kiri and Liam with his gran into an email, then sent it to Verity. I knew why she’d asked about Peggy having Stevie’s old mobile phone – in colluding in the deception of contact, it raised the possibility that she may have colluded with him in other matters. Now under suspicion, it was likely her phone would be examined by the police, and she and Fred interviewed. It was a shocking mess, and what had once been a stable, loving family was now being torn apart.

There wasn’t much else I could do now but wait, and then be ready to support Stevie when he returned from school or phoned during the day. I felt I needed to be active to escape from my troubled thoughts, so having cleared up the house I went into the garden and set about some gardening, my mobile phone close by. At 12.30 Stevie phoned during his lunch break (when they were allowed to turn on their phones). ‘Have you heard anything?’ he asked, his voice tight.

I went indoors to take the call so that any neighbours in their gardens couldn’t overhear. ‘Verity phoned,’ I said. ‘She’s listened to your voicemail message.’

‘Will it be OK then?’ he asked naively, believing his admittance of guilt and apology were enough to keep Liam and Kiri out of care.