| abstract | - Jade Greyson was a member of the panel who convened to advise Steve and Becky McDonald if their application to be adoption parents had been successful. On the day of the hearing, social worker Dawn Coghill told the McDonalds that the panel was running late as Jade had encountered child care problems that morning. Becky was highly nervous and sneaked outside where she saw a woman having a cigarette while she made a phone call. Becky, desperately trying to give up smoking but craving nicotine begged a cigarette off the woman which she duly obliged with. When they were called into the panel and introduced by chairman Ian Mackintosh, Becky was horrified to see that Jade was a member. The panel went well until Jade, with a nasty smile, asked directly if the McDonalds were still non-smokers and Becky, looking her directly in the eye, said yes. While waiting outside the conference room for the panel’s decision, Becky confessed her slip to Steve and when called back in admitted her error and made a passionate plea as to why they would be good adoptive parents. Nevertheless they were told that their application had failed and Mr MacKintosh started to tell them that the reason was that it was too soon after Becky’s miscarriage but she angrily accused Jade of setting her up and, for good measure, threatened her that she had better watch her back from now onwards.
|
