Innocent: Part 3 of 3: The True Story of Siblings Struggling to Survive. Cathy Glass

      Tess looked at me, horrified.

      ‘Toy ones,’ I clarified.

      She laughed. ‘For one moment I thought –’

      ‘I know. But surely no one gives a child aged three a real one?’

‘You’d be surprised.’

      ‘Can we have our phones?’ Molly asked again.

      ‘Yes, OK, but we’ll put the volume on low,’ I said.

      I retrieved the toy phones from the cupboard and turned down the volume on both before handing them to the children. They began pressing buttons and the recorded messages, sounds and music played as Tess and I talked. She asked me about the children’s routine, their development, general health and well-being, which was a standard part of most social worker visits, and took notes. Finally, she said, ‘All that’s left is for me to have a look around.’ It’s usual for the social worker to check the foster carer’s house when they visit, just as the supervising social worker does. ‘Are you going to show me your bedroom?’ she asked the children.

      ‘Yes,’ Molly said, and took it as a sign to turn up the volume on her phone and on Kit’s. It didn’t matter. Tess and I had finished talking.

      Tess took Kit’s free hand and I took Molly’s and the four of us walked around the house, in and out of the rooms, to the nursery rhymes coming loudly from Kit’s phone and the voice counting to twenty from Molly’s.