Reconnecting with family friends
Rachel’s mother safely died in 2020. During Care Proceedings, her wider family was identified. Following a positive assessment of her father’s half-sister, Kelly, and an introductory period, Rachel moved to Dorchester (from Portsmouth) to live with Kelly and her two daughters in November 2021.
Rachel was interested in finding out more about her life prior to her mother's death. She wanted help to establish her identity and any ties to her life in Portsmouth. The Lifelong Links referral aimed to establish a network around Rachel that included people from both her current life in Dorchester, but also her time spent with foster carers, and her time growing up in Portsmouth. They wanted to identify anyone who might be able to support her. Specifically, she wanted to better understand her and her mum’s history to help build her identity moving forward.
Rachel attended a Lifelong Links Celebration Meeting along with her foster parents. Some of Rachel’s school friends attended along with their mothers, a friend of Rachel’s mother, and two friends from her mother’s past school.
Rachel was able to meet past friends of her mothers, establish new connections, and start new relationships. During the celebration, Rachel was able to sit with her mother’s friend and talk about her mother. They agreed to meet up with her mother’s friends’ grandchildren and message each other on WhatsApp. Rache'l’s mother’s friends from school planned to send birthday cards to Rachel and FaceTime her too.
Old pictures were shared, and new pictures were taken of Rachel’s mother’s’ friends, creating memories for Rachel. Rachel spent time with her friends playing games and talking and they have set up a WhatsApp group to stay in touch, organise sleepovers and send birthday and Christmas cards.
As a result of the Lifelong Links celebration Rachel was able to create long-term future plans to reconnect with old relationships along with creating new ones and get a better sense of Mum.
Lifelong Links is a service Daybreak run in specific areas. To find out more, visit our Lifelong Links programme page.
Please note that names have been changed