A typical Sunday visit for “sweet cheeks” involves being picked up by a transport worker for a 1-hour drive to the meeting point where she has a 2-hour visit with birth father and siblings. She is then bundled back into the transport car to go to see the birth mother and siblings for another 2 hours, after which she has a 1-hour trip back home to us.
During the visit, she is fed up on lollies, (even a hard-boiled lollipop that birth mother insisted she could chew with no teeth) chocolate, ice-cream, McDonalds, and fizzy drinks. She is not allowed to sleep, as both parents want to play with her during their time.
By the time she arrives home, she is exhausted and overwrought. It takes us four hours to calm, soothe and settle her to sleep.
The following day I cannot be out of eyesight, as she thinks she will be ‘left’ again. She is tired and listless…and cranky when awake.
Her body groans in sleep as her digestive system struggles to rid itself of the day’s intake. Birth mother has been asked to supply food for her children, so the picnic of sandwiches, fruit and juice that we packed returns in the bag unopened.
Child abuse is more than the physical beatings, sexual abuse or neglect that we read so much about. It is depriving children of the right to health and happiness, which begins at home…and in the kitchen.
But how can we expect these parents to supply nutritious food when they do not eat anything resembling fresh, soil-grown produce themselves? Let’s hope that the parenting classes birth mother has been slated to undertake will include lessons on nutrition.
Don’t get me wrong - I am no tree hugging, veggie-growing extremist - I love a pizza, chocolate or sweet as much as the next person. But I CHOOSE to put this stuff in my mouth, knowing the results of eating these things. A 12-month old has no say in the matter, nor does her little digestive tract.
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