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Laura’s story – care transformed a neglected baby

Thursday 18 July 2019

Laura came to us straight from hospital as a 2-year-old who was the size of a 3-month old baby due to severe neglect. She had severe disabilities, she could not talk or stand up and move about like a child in her age range. She had a rocking movement where she would sway her head left to right and had no appetite at all. Laura was scared of people and scared of being held.

During the first six months of fostering Laura, we showed her simple body movements and how to grasp toys; she started to crawl and eventually walked. It took three months for Laura to start walking from crawling. She had the use of a baby walker but still needed a lot of support from us to get her finally on her feet. This also including working with a physiotherapist.

For the first six months we had help from the hospital who put her on special formulas to increase her appetite and growth. Laura had no teeth when she came to us but after a while her teeth started to show and she started to eat normal solid foods.

Laura was starting to make normal baby sounds but she had many phobias that we had to overcome and she did not like to go out and interact with other children.

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Laura made massive progress once she gained weight and starting looking and behaving like a 2-year-old child should.

Slowly Laura started to enjoy going out and mixing with other children. At this stage she had made seriously great improvements in her development and her growth and communication skills accelerated quickly. Doctors were pleased at how Laura’s growth and development had increased and they kept a record of her growth on a chart.

At this moment in time Laura is a totally independent child who does not need any help from the hospital. Her growth and development is normal for a child of her age, now six. She started nursery at the age of three and a half – she settled well and had a great time!

Now Laura is at mainstream school and is doing very well in year one. She is a happy, healthy and active child and everyone is pleased at how she has improved and we are really happy to have her as our foster child.

We have been fortunate to have been considered as Laura’s long term carers and look forward to the years ahead of us, watching her continue to develop and progress through life.

As told by Laura’s foster carer

Has Laura’s story inspired you?

There are many different types of foster care, from fostering babies to fostering teenagers. If you’d like to make a difference to the life of a vulnerable child or young person, make an enquiry with your local team today.

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