Back to Business!
I've had a month or so off to sort out big changes in my domestic life: my 13year old Godson is now living with me after coming here with his father and me being 'vetted' by our local social services.
It is ironic that this has occured: a couple of years ago I decided that whatever my relationship status, I would begin the process of registering as a foster parent. I have felt for a long time that I had parental- or at least mentoring qualities and that I'd enjoy the responsibilities of caring for a young person. I'd always felt it would be a job for two and added it to the list of prerequisites of any potential partner- lol a definite contributing factor to my prolonged singledom! I did foster a 16 year old for a year with a partner in Hampstead about 20 years ago, through a project called The Albert Kennedy Trust after spending an entire year thinking about it and whenever we left the house there'd be a mental check: "If we were fostering a teenager, where would they be now: with us- off out, in the house, alone, chaperoned etc?
I tend to throw myself into the things I do and I did worry about how I'd be able to maintain my professional output whilst giving a young person the support they needed. Just before last Christmas, the guy with whom I was working became a father for the first time. I was sincerely pleased for him, his partner and their baby, but it became hard to maintain that goodwill in the face of the mountain of work left to me to deliver (ironic as he was supposedly my assistant) whilst the Board of Trustees, generously allowed the maximum paternity leave etc, despite the fact he'd only been working there two months.
But- I thought: if they'll do that for someone who's been here only two months, what might I expect after five years of service if I gained parental responsibilities? Sadly it never got tot that point as a (predicted) cash-flow crisis hit and I decided to take voluntary redundancy to pursue projects I'd been trying to get them to initiate since October 2009 (when I had correctly predicted the cash-flow difficulties).
So: I write all this as an explaination for the six or so weeks gap in this blog and also to announce that childcare and LGBT people is very likely to become a regular theme in this blog.
As for my Godson: he seems to have settled in with few problems and I'm enjoying having him around (My cat is less sure, he's not used to being chased and stroked as much as of late). He is a particularly self-contained and resillient chap. I have had minor difficulty in getting him to do things occassionally- he doesn't always fully understand: It occured to me the other day that it might be because he speaks three languages: who knows how all that stuff is processed in his head.
It is ironic that this has occured: a couple of years ago I decided that whatever my relationship status, I would begin the process of registering as a foster parent. I have felt for a long time that I had parental- or at least mentoring qualities and that I'd enjoy the responsibilities of caring for a young person. I'd always felt it would be a job for two and added it to the list of prerequisites of any potential partner- lol a definite contributing factor to my prolonged singledom! I did foster a 16 year old for a year with a partner in Hampstead about 20 years ago, through a project called The Albert Kennedy Trust after spending an entire year thinking about it and whenever we left the house there'd be a mental check: "If we were fostering a teenager, where would they be now: with us- off out, in the house, alone, chaperoned etc?
I tend to throw myself into the things I do and I did worry about how I'd be able to maintain my professional output whilst giving a young person the support they needed. Just before last Christmas, the guy with whom I was working became a father for the first time. I was sincerely pleased for him, his partner and their baby, but it became hard to maintain that goodwill in the face of the mountain of work left to me to deliver (ironic as he was supposedly my assistant) whilst the Board of Trustees, generously allowed the maximum paternity leave etc, despite the fact he'd only been working there two months.
But- I thought: if they'll do that for someone who's been here only two months, what might I expect after five years of service if I gained parental responsibilities? Sadly it never got tot that point as a (predicted) cash-flow crisis hit and I decided to take voluntary redundancy to pursue projects I'd been trying to get them to initiate since October 2009 (when I had correctly predicted the cash-flow difficulties).
So: I write all this as an explaination for the six or so weeks gap in this blog and also to announce that childcare and LGBT people is very likely to become a regular theme in this blog.
As for my Godson: he seems to have settled in with few problems and I'm enjoying having him around (My cat is less sure, he's not used to being chased and stroked as much as of late). He is a particularly self-contained and resillient chap. I have had minor difficulty in getting him to do things occassionally- he doesn't always fully understand: It occured to me the other day that it might be because he speaks three languages: who knows how all that stuff is processed in his head.
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