I wasn't really in tears, I felt a quiet fury that there seems to be little prevention and actual treatment for people like Marva.
I also felt that the adults weren't being listened to - they were being done to. Annie was lovely, but how many times did Marva actually speak to her. It was clear that Annie didnt 'get' her client when she arrived at the foster carer and completely seemed to open up to her. The social services peoples questions all seemed to be leading ones - not open questions, and there never seemed to be time for Marva to talk. There seemed to be lots of putting words into her mouth.
The agreement that she shouldn't see ex dp or she would lose the baby was almost arbitrary and there were mixed messages about this too - Annie kept sending messages between them as though there was some kind of relationship going on. It was almost setting her up for failure to make it a one strike deal. She has been an alcoholic most of her life - she needed help with that but was expected to just 'stay off the drink' - 'be strong'.
And then there was the boyfriend - a complete headcase, who was told to stay off the drink. You can't tell someone like that to 'be strong'. He needed as much help as she did, he was self-harming, had his own history of abuse, it was tragic that he was so needy yet was expected to just change his behaviour.
The only good thing I could see out of this painful case was that Marva's baby will be brought up in a healthy environment and this will stop the cycle of dysfunction passing down to the next generation. But it was so sad to see the adults, neglected, abused and vulnerable, being thrown on the scrap heap.
I think the foster carer was brilliant though and deserved a medal for enabling Marva to relish the time that she was able to have with her baby.