11/10/2026
All three of us at Samanthas Legacy are Kinship Carers so thought i would share one of our experiences in a poem on the last day of
❤️ THE PHONE CALL THAT CHANGED OUR LIVES ❤️
That phone call came, I always knew,
One day I'd hear those words come through.
I paced the garden, filled with fear,
A thousand thoughts, no answers clear.
Ten minutes to decide our fate,
A choice so big, a heart so full of weight.
I spoke to no one, though deep inside,
I knew my family would stand by my side.
And when I told my husband that day,
He gently took my fears away.
No second thoughts, no questions why,
Just love and strength to get us by.
Then came a little boy through our door,
With only the clothes that he wore.
No bed, no bedroom, no toys to see,
Just a little boy who needed family. ❤️
He asked no questions, kept them inside,
So much confusion he tried to hide.
A childhood of hurt, too much to bear,
And all we could do was promise we'd care.
The nights were long, our hearts unsure,
Would they let him stay? Could we endure?
The meetings, the visits, the questions came,
Our lives laid bare, our grief given a name.
"You've lost so much, can you really provide
The love another child needs by your side?"
Those words cut deeper than they knew,
And made me question the mother I thought I grew into.
Had my own children suffered too?
Had grief changed the mother they once knew?
But then I looked at the love we'd made,
And knew our family wouldn't fade.
The months went by, we held on tight,
Through every worry, every sleepless night.
Until the day we'd prayed to see,
Our SGO was granted. He was staying with me. ❤️
But once the papers had been signed,
The people we'd relied on were left behind.
No calls to ask if he was okay,
No one to help us along the way.
No "Does he need support to heal?"
No "How do you cope with the things he feels?"
No "Are your children managing too?"
Not even a simple, "How are you?"
Because the case was closed, their work was done,
But our journey together had only begun.
Now years have passed, and here we stand,
Three children growing, hand in hand.
The school runs, the laughter, the tears we've cried,
A family of five, standing side by side.
He still has struggles, he still has fears,
Some wounds run deeper than passing years.
But every small step, every milestone made,
Reminds me of the promise that day.
Sometimes I think of that garden, that call,
The woman who feared she might lose it all.
If only she knew what her future would be,
How one little boy would complete our family. ❤️
Would I answer that phone call again?
Through every worry, every tear, every pain?
A thousand times, without a doubt.
Because love is what family is all about.
But love alone cannot heal every scar,
And kinship families have come so far.
A child shouldn't lose the help they need,
Because family answered their silent plea.
This Kinship Care Week, I share our story,
Not for sympathy, thanks or glory.
But for every family who opened their door,
And every child who deserves so much more.
We gave him a home, a place to belong.
He gave us a love that will last our whole lives long. ❤️
Kinship Carers UK Kinship
