Free Saving Gary McKinnon by Janis Sharp Page A

drive away was devastating. The man was going to be the main stay-at-home carer as the woman worked and I knew that Mae was desperately keen for the woman to be at home with them.
    Watching them drive away tore us apart and I knew that as well as being sad, Mae was angry with me for letting them go.
    For the next few weeks Wilson and I would find ourselves beginning to cry when we were in the car or walking through the supermarket. We worried about the children constantly.
    That’s the thing about fostering. When the children leave or are adopted, the chances are you might never see them again and it can feel almost like a bereavement. Foster carers aren’t officially allowed to grieve but of course they do. They are human beings and naturally worry about the future of the children they have cared for and who have lived with them as part of their family.
    It is very difficult for foster carers to raise concerns about a child’s welfare after the child has left their care. Foster carers arebasically expected to know their place and rocking the boat is done at your peril.
    Because of the secrecy of the family courts, even although many years have passed I could be prosecuted for voicing certain details of children we’ve cared for. However, I’m now going to raise some general points.
    Although this does not relate to children we have fostered, children in the UK are allowed to be fostered and adopted by people who belong to cults, and apparently even by people who worship Satan, whether or not the birth parents object. Satanism is a long-established officially recognised religion in the UK and was recently upheld as such by our courts.
    While watching the Nicky Campbell Sunday TV show
The Big Question
on BBC1, I was surprised to see a man who apparently performs in porn shows say he is also a foster carer. I doubt this would have been allowed in the past but times have changed.
    I consider myself to be reasonably open minded and tolerant. However, when it comes to children I believe we should always err on the side of caution.
    When situations arise where foster carers have what they regard as legitimate concerns about the welfare of children they have previously fostered, they should surely be allowed to spend a day with the children to speak to them on their own, or in the presence of an independent social worker, as it could put minds at ease and ensure the children’s safety.
    No system is infallible. In one case a birth mother went to court to try and prevent the adoption of her children, when out of the blue an arrest warrant was issued for her. If she did not attend another court at exactly the same time as the adoption hearing was taking place in a different court, she was to be arrested. The young mother, although terrified, bravelywent to court on her own to fight for her children. At the very last minute someone managed to sort out the error that had occurred. The arrest warrant for the children’s mother was deemed to be a ‘mistake’. This happened to the same mother again some months later when she was again wrongly imprisoned for days while in the midst of fighting for her children. The secrecy of the family courts can make it almost impossible for genuine cases of injustice to come to light and it is inevitable that there will always be some such cases.
    Ironically the insight we gained into the workings of the system was akin to a rehearsal for what was to come in Gary’s case, and was partly responsible for some of the decisions I took that I believe played a major part in saving Gary.

CHAPTER 8
SNATCHED
    G ary and Tamsin separated in 2003. Gary was living a hermit-like existence and rarely ventured out until he met Lucy from Leicester in late 2004. Lucy was down to earth, easygoing and attractive, with blondish hair and a ready smile. She put Gary at his ease. He was comfortable in Lucy’s company and it was good to see him looking relaxed for the first time in years.
    Lucy lived in Leicester but