To go forward with my memories I,ve been forced to go backwards a bit. I,ve received the long awaited social services file on me from way back in the 1950s when I was unaware what was happening and why I ended up in the care of my grandmother who was my age now when she took me and my little sister on. Talk about "Her Benny" which used to bring tears to my eyes when my gran used to tell me the story often when I couldn,t get to sleep. Since getting these documents I ,ve been reflecting on my life and my heart and brain has been crying even though the physical tears never came. I haven,t yet sent copies of these documents to my family so this could come as a bit of a shock to many of my cousins over the next few weeks. Over last weekend I had my cousin from Runcorn over to go for a meal and a talk on the family tree and I let them look through the documents and my memories that I,d wrote down in these columns. You could hear a pin drop when the revelations came out of those pages; And the tears flowed afterwards.
The story went that I was taken along with my brother and sister to Rathbone hospital and that we were to be transferred to Olive Mount Children,s home section because nobody came to visit us. We had whooping cough, we were sickly and undernourished, we were ill, and there was nobody to come to see us; nobody cared; nobody loved us; nobody wanted to know wether we lived or died.
My report states that I had to have a t.b. test as my mother had active tuberculosis at that time. I had the test on 11.12.1955. I presume too that my two siblings would have to have the same tests, but I don,t know, I am only privvy to my case. I was to have a b.c.g. needle and would have to attend a chest clinic for a while
There is a note that the social services were active on my/our case as early as February 1955 as I have a letter from "THE CHILDRENS COMMITTEE" stating that they were looking to have me immunised. On the same date there is a form which my mother signed stating that I was in the care of the Liverpool Authority at that time. I was three years old for Christ,s sake and I was in care because my mother didn.t want me; What did I do to be given over to the local authority, were my brother and sister in the same plight I wonder. The form goes on to say that although my mum gave me away, she didn,t approve of me going to a foster family with a view to me being legally adopted, although I could be moved into a private foster home at anytime at the discretion of the children,s committee.
And then there was the copy of a handwritten letter my dad, whom I loved so deeply in my childhood days, not knowing anything about what went on behind the fascade of his welcoming face at the times I saw and wanted his fatherly care and reassurances that I thought I had.
the letter reads;
13.9.1955
Dear Sir,
Could you please advise me on how to get my children in a Liverpool Children,s home. My wife is unable to care for them and they have been in the care of my mother since march, but now, owing to her health she can no longer manage them and I have no other relatives who can help me
Yours truely,
Chippie,s dad
Reading this from an adults view, dad was in the middle of a crisis between his wife, my mother and his mother, my grandmother who was forced to take in his children from going back into care, and was not coping well with the situation. But to ask for us all to be put into a home........when would we see our parents again? Would they soon forget us and we become victims of being institutionalised? Would we lose our love for our parents? Would they care? Would we care? It was coming up to Christmas and we three kids would be travelling afar, away from our homes, from the people who made us but didn,t really want to look after us.
Another letter from my father was sent a week after the first letter, and a little more desperate this time ending with;
"Would you please help or advise me in getting the children placed in the care of a home in Liverpool.
oblige,
Chippie,s dad.
Then the children,s officer,s memo to Brougham Terrace,s children,s welfare committee.
Dear Sir, Chippie
his sister
his brother
With reference to your letter of 28th Feb, I look forward to your information and copy of my officer,s report on an interview with the father of the above named.
yours faithfully,
county children,s officer.
And then the officer,s report on my dad.
31.3.1955
I interviewed Chippie,s dad and he told me that his mother has Chippie and his sister and he pays her 30/- a week for their care. The eldest child is with the maternal grandmother and he pays £3 to his wife who pays the grandmother something out of this for Chippie,s brother,s maintenance. As Chippie,s dad is only earning just over £5 per week, this leaves him 10/- a week to go to Liverpool to see the children each week. Chippie,s dad intends to keep up these payments in the interests of the children as he does not wish them to be taken into care and placed in a home. He told me that he was willing to do anything for the children short of going back to his wife and his wife,s relatives; Under no circumstances would he do this."
The letter goes on to say that the officer interviewed my dad,s superior who upholds the wages and gave my dad a good report.
and another report from the welfare committee about an interview with my mum saying that my mum was prepared for us kids to go into care but now they are being provided for by repective parents, but regular weekly payments must be made for the children,s upkeep and to maintain his wife too.
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and a report about an interview with my dad,s mam.
Chippie,s gran is willing to care for Chippie and his sister but she is in possession of a numberof liableous letters from the children,s mother. When Chippie,s dad came home at the weekend she told him if the letters don,t stop she would have to review the care of his children. The children are fond of her and her of the children and I am sure that she would not let them go.
She also intimated that the children,s family allowence was still being drawn by their mother and retained by her.
One last document seems to be a memo from an officer saying that "Chippie,s dad is shirking away from his resposibilities "
Well there you have what I got back after a fight to get them from the social services. A mixed bag of feelings and a melting pot of emotions.
We three kids ended up fostered out so to speak with family most of the time, but my two siblings did go into a home in Yorkshire, all that way and I couldn,t see them. I don,t know how often my dad went to see them, they don,t talk about their care in the home, maybe I can get it out of them bit by bit before one of us dies, and maybe not.
To be continued.................
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