So happy with all the reviews :) Thank you all. I love hearing all the ideas and I will find time to use them. I just need to settle the girl in first.
It was the following morning and Helen had decided to pay another visit. She needed to know the girl's name. So much was unable to be done due to this. She needed to find out a way to get the girl's name so she could start working out who the girl was.
It was down to Mike to tell the girl about it. They hoped that the girl would be able to tell them more. He knew that the girl would not be aware of the routine they follow at the Dumping Ground as they did not want to overwhelm her yesterday. Today they would explain the routine and house rules to her.
He knocked loudly on the door and then waited. He knew it was early but he wanted to check on the girl. He did not want her sitting in her room all day. It took him a minute to realise that he will not hear a reply and he gently opened the door. He was surprised to see that the girl was already dressed.
"You are up early. Do you want to come down for breakfast? I bet you'll be the first one there" He said hoping that this would make the girl feel more secure.
"May-Li is already down" He said, and the girl nodded as she stood up and left the room.
"Helen is coming about 11 o'clock" He said, and the girl nodded. She walked down the stairs and was met by May-Li.
"Good morning, what do you want for breakfast?" May-Li asked jollily. The girl came over and pointed to the bread.
"Do you want a slice of toast?" May-Li asked and the girl nodded and took out a slice and placed it in the toaster.
"You can have two slices if you want" May-Li explained but the girl did not reply. Once the toast popped, the girl put some butter on her toast and then sat down. She ate quietly and was met by Toni and Billie running down the stairs. May-Li helped them pour their cereal before they sat next to the new girl. They kept looking at her and the pressure made the girl stop eating.
"Did Mike tell you that Helen was going?" May-Li asked the girl who nodded.
"Do you want me to come into the meeting?" May-Li asked, and the girl nodded.
"Would you prefer me or Mike?" She asked giving the girl a choice and the girl rose her hand nervously and pointed to May-Li without looking at her.
"That's fine. Mike might also be present for some of it but it's nothing to worry about" May-Li said, and the girl nodded.
"Do you want to go see what the girls are doing?" May-Li asked noticing that the girl had stopped eating and was now playing her food. The girl nodded and they walked through to where the twins were.
"What are you doing girls?" May-Li asked.
"We are making a sign for our room" Toni said, and May-Li nodded.
"Do you have room for one more? Can you show her what to do?" May-Li asked as she had no idea if the girl would manage. Billie and Toni both agreed.
"Do you want to make a sign for outside your room?" May-Li asked the girl as she sat her down next to the twins.
The girls came running through almost an hour later, when the rest of the children were all up and sitting eating breakfast at the table.
"We have an announcement" Billie shouted, and they all looked at them.
"We've working out the new girl's name" Toni said proudly.
"It's Farah" Billie said.
"How did you work that out?" Bailey asked.
"I bet she just made it up" Tyler shouted out.
"No, we didn't. She wrote it" Billie explained.
"She wrote it?" Mo asked. "How can she write if she can't even speak?"
"Toni, Billie did she write it herself? You didn't just write it because you liked the name?" May-Li asked. The girls shook their head.
"Go and look for yourself if you don't believe us. She is way better at drawing that us" Toni said, and May-Li walked with the girls to the living room. She noticed that the girl was now ferociously colouring in an area.
"Farah?" May-Li questioned, and the girl turned her head towards her. Even though she then faced May-Li, she did not give her eye contact.
"Is that your name?" She asked softly and the girl nodded.
"It's a beautiful name. Shall we put this on your bedroom door now?" May-Li asked, noticing that the girl had now finished colouring in the background. In big bubble writing it said "FARAH'S ROOM"
They walked up the stairs and blue tacked the picture onto the door. Just as they finished, the doorbell rang. Farah jumped and then clung to the wall.
"Don't worry. It will probably be your social worker. It's almost 11 o'clock now" May-Li said softly, and the girl nodded. Together they walked down the stairs and May-Li opened the door to Helen.
"We have just found out her name is Farah" May-Li told Helen.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Helen tutted.
"We have literally just found out now ourselves" May-Li explained. Mike came running through.
"Is it true what the others are saying? Is her name Farah?" Mike asked and May-Li nodded.
"She is here you know, why don't you ask her?" May-Li asked. She was started to get frustrated that people were just by-passing Farah because she would not speak.
"Let's go into the meeting now" Helen stated, and they walked into the quiet room.
"Now I have a first name that should help but I need more. Farah can you just tell me your name? I can't help you until you speak" Helen said to the girl. May-Li and Mike both noticed how tense the girl became.
"Come on, everyone else can speak. It's not that hard" Helen said frustratingly. "I have spent all of yesterday and most of this morning trying to find out who you are and I'm getting nowhere, all of this is because you won't talk. Is it attention that you want because you've got it now, we are all looking at you."
"Helen, I don't think that is going to work" Mike said softly before looking at May-Li begging her for some help.
"Farah, you wrote your name so nicely and used the correct punctuation. Do you think you can write some things down for us?" May-Li asked softly as she got the girl a pencil and paper. Farah nodded but still looked fearful.
"Listen, you aren't going to get into trouble. You are only a child; we just want to protect you. If you can answer these questions it will really help" May-Li explained and instantly Farah relaxed before nodding.
"Can you write your full name?" Helen asked and Farah did so;
Farah Swindon
"Perfect and your date of birth" Helen asked, and Farah did this as well. It worked out that she was 12 years old and she would be 13 in the middle of October.
"Oh it's only about 2 months until your birthday" May-Li said and Farah nodded.
"Who did you live with?" Helen asked and Farah wrote her dad.
"Just dad?" Helen asked and Farah nodded before writing that her father brought friends back often women. Helen nodded; this would fit with his use of prostitution.
"What did he do with these women?" Helen asked. Farah wrote without any hesitation, had sex. Mike and May-Li looked at each other in shock.
"Did you see this?" Helen asked and Farah nodded.
"Did they ever involve you?" She then pushed to ask. Farah furiously scored out the next line. She was not going to answer the question.
"Farah, it's important that you speak to us" Helen pushed. However, Mike noticed that it was getting too much for the girl. He was just about to step in when Helen spoke again.
"We can't help you unless you tell us" Helen said raising her voice and Farah broke. She put her hands up to her face and started rocking back and forth. She ran to a corner of the room and started almost making a humming sound. Mike looked at Helen and shook his head while May-Li stepped forward to try to soothe Farah. It was very difficult when she could not even touch the girl.
"Farah, I need you to take some deep breathes. Everything is going to be okay; we will look after you. You have a right to your own privacy and do not have to tell us anything you don't want us to know. This is all going to go at the pace you want it to go at" May-Li explained, and Farah listened to her soft voice and moved her hands away from her face and nodded. She looked up at May-Li and stood up quickly walking back to the sofa.
"Well done" May-Li said.
"I'm sorry Farah, I won't push you so hard next time. I apologise" Helen explained. Farah nodded.
"Can you answer a couple of other questions for me? It's just about your stay here" Helen asked and reluctantly Farah agreed.
"Do you like it here?" Helen asked and Farah nodded.
"Do you know what it means to trust someone?" Helen asked and Farah shook her head.
"Trusting someone means that you feel that you can talk or write to them about any problems you have. It's a feeling that you have when you see that person, it might make you relax or make you feel happy when you see that person" Helen explained, and Farah nodded.
"Do you have anyone you trust?" She asked and anxiously Farah picked up the pen. Farah nervously glanced around the room before writing May-Li's name.
"I'm really glad that you trust May-Li, if you feel ready to tell May-Li anything that's happened to you would you do it?" Helen asked and Farah bit her lip. How could she tell her?
"We believe in privacy and follow a strict confidentiality procedure. Nothing you tell me will be told to any of the other young people here. Everyday, we update your file and write a bit of information about how you have gotten on that day. I will often write any issues there but its only for me, Mike and Helen to see. It will always be kept in the office" May-Li explained.
"If I notice you are upset, I might come up to your room and ask if you want to speak to me. You can also ask to speak to me, and we will find a quiet spot. There are lots of ways you can speak to me" May-Li explained, and Farah nodded.
"We are all here for you Farah, we want to help you" Mike explained, and again Farah nodded.
"Do you want to go to your room now?" Mike asked noticing that Farah was starting to have enough. Farah agreed and headed out of the room towards the stairs.
"Farah, well done" May-Li said from the door and Farah stopped for a moment before going back up the stairs.
"Do you think she is okay in this environment? Is it what is best for her?" Helen asked.
"I actually think she is managing very well. She settled with two of the younger girls this morning, I can speak to a couple of the older girls and see if they can try to include her. She does have her challenges, but she isn't being difficult. She's actually being really responsive and doing as she is asked" May-Li explained, and Mike nodded. He enjoyed having Farah with them. He knew that they could help her and wanted to watch her grow. He was sure they could help her.
"That's fine. We'll keep her here just now and then review the case again next week. I'm going to go and find out some information about her. Hopefully, it will be easier now that I have a full name. I'll be in touch next week. I'll arrange a doctor's appointment for next week" Helen said and both Mike and May-Li nodded.
"She badly needs new clothes" May-Li said.
"She was very challenging to get into the car so I wouldn't advise taking her out just now. Would you be able to do a small shop just now and then maybe in a couple of weeks, you can take her out and get more?" Helen suggested and May-Li nodded. They saw Helen out before realising that they needed to get started on lunch.
"Well I was going to be taking Tee, Carmen, Jody and Tyler to the shopping centre today. Do you want to go so you can get some clothes for Farah?" Mike asked and May-Li agreed. She's definitely not let the girl go through the trauma of Mike choosing her clothes. Once lunch was ready, they called all the children and Farah also came down. Mike and May-Li kept a close eye on Farah and although she did only pick at her food, she still ate more that she did the previous day.
"Right guys, there has been a change of plan, May-Li is going to be taking you shopping instead of me" Mike explained and they both noticed Farah's face changed.
"Farah, you don't have to go" Mike said and instantly the girl relaxed but blushed as all the attention was turned to her. No one seemed to bothered that it was now May-Li taking them instead of Mike, it was all the same to them. Once they finished, Farah helped tidied up the dishes into the dishwasher.
"Thank you Farah, we will introduce you into the cleaning rota from next week. It's over here and everyone has a job to do each week or well as their own bedroom" May-Li explained and Farah nodded.
"You will learn most of the rules as you go but the main thing is that you must always ask permission before going out of the house" May-Li explained "I can give you a copy of the rule book if you'd like?"
Farah nodded, it wasn't a big rulebook and it would give the girl something to read. Farah followed May-Li to the office to retrieve it.
"I'm going to go to the shops and get you some clothes. I think it would be too much for you to come as well" May-li explained and Farah agreed.
"Do you like to read?" May-Li asked as Farah flicked through the rule book. Farah nodded.
"Come and see this" May-Li said taking her to the bookshelf.
"Jody really likes to read as well. She has more books in her room. I'm sure she would give you some if you asked" May-Li said and Farah nodded. She still kept her head down and didn't look directly at May-Li.
Farah disappeared to her room with the rule book and a book that she selected from the bookcase. This would keep her busy. She stayed in her room for the rest of the afternoon until she was interrupted by a knock at the door. She stood up and opened it. She noticed Tee, May-Li and Carmen standing at the door.
"We've got you clothes" Tee said excitedly as the three of them walked into the bedroom. They placed the bags on the bed.
"Do you want to look through them first and then we can leave you to try them on?" Carmen asked. "Oh, and not all of them are pink"
Farah started looking through the bags. She took the clothes out and held them up against her. Tee and Carmen did the same. May-Li sat on the bed. She wanted to check that the girl was settled before leaving. Farah was slightly embarrassed to note that May-Li had also brought her underwear and quickly put the pants and socks into the drawer. She pulled out a pack of crop tops and looked at them suspiciously.
"They are crop tops, you can wear them underneath your tops, like a vest but a bit more grown up" May-Li said not wanting to scare the girl. She knew that at some point she'd need to speak to the girl about changes to her body but just now was a bit premature. She needed to develop a relationship with the girl first.
"If you feel that you need more or I've forgotten something then just let me know" May-Li said before leaving the girls.
"Do you have a vest on under your top?" Tee asked. "You can do a bit of a fashion show if you want?"
Farah was slightly nervous but agreed. She started trying on the clothes and Tee and Carmen sat on the bed marking them out of 10. They also helped her decide which bottoms to where with them. By the time they were called for dinner, Farah had relaxed with both of them and now no longer looked at the ground. She walked down the stairs for dinner with them and sat in between them.
May-Li and Mike smiled at each other as they noticed Farah eating happily without concern. She still didn't talk but she listened to them.
After dinner, Tee and Carmen said they were going to watch TV and asked Farah if she wanted to join them. She agreed and walked behind them. Tee and Carmen sat on the sofa and Farah sat on the floor. The floor was always the safest place to sit as it was the easiest place to get away from, no sides of the sofa to trap her.
They watched TV all evening until they were told to go up the stairs. Farah went up the stairs and changed into her new pyjamas and then settled for bed. It was Mike's night on, so he said goodnight to all of the children. He reminded Farah that she could only read until 9:30 and then she needed to go to sleep. She nodded in agreement.
So what do you think? Who do you want Farah to have a relationship with? What do you want her father to have done to her? What about her mother? Any siblings? Love writing stories using other people's ideas and wishes :)