Three weeks ago tonight we were having our last evening as a couple before Raina came to live with her forever family.
There are moments when it feels like Raina has been with us for much longer than three weeks. It's easy to recall life before Raina but very hard to imagine a future where she was not here. There is definitely a shared bond forming between us all but I don't think any of us have felt instant 'love' for each other. It's more like a blossoming relationship and changing very slowly over time. When our SW asked me "do you love her?", I can only reply that I feel like I am falling in love with her.
Our SW warned us about the week 5/ week 6 difficulties that a lot of placements experience. We don't think that Raina has fully realised that she is going to live with us forever yet. When the realisation does kicks in, she is bound to be angry with us and we are braced for some backlash. Raina has had a few different carers in her life and not all of them have remained in her life all the time. There are no short-cuts to Raina feeling fully secure that we aren't going to send her back to her FC or pass her onto someone else to look after her. We hope that another three weeks from now we can reflect on having progressed further in this direction.
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