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In writing about a child's early life, ideally one hopes to construct a coherent narrative about their earliest history. Jack's history, however, is one of discontinuity. It is fractured through a series of abrupt separations, changes of caretaker and losses. There are, too, many gaps and absences in our knowledge of the quality of care he received in various hands. It is hardly surprising that with these frequent early ruptures, one of the referring symptoms should have been his “muddles”.
Jack was the result of a casual liaison between Mrs. G, a 42-year-old alcoholic woman, and a man who lived in the same building. At the time of Jack's conception, Mrs. G's husband would have been in prison. Apart from the name, nothing is known about the biological father who disappeared when Jack was 6 months old. Jack's “stepfather” (Mrs. G's husband) came out of prison just before Jack's birth and assumed full responsibility for the child.
The marriage was unstable and at the time of referral had long since ended. The stepfather (possibly unbeknownst to Jack) had a new relationship and child, whilst Jack's mother, having successfully overcome her alcoholism for the past five years, was working and living quietly on her own in Edinburgh.
Nothing was directly known about the quality of care Jack had received in his early life. However, there would have been frequent heavy drinking bouts interspersed with marital disputes. When Jack was 5 months old his mother was arrested for being drunk. As she was unable to care for Jack, he had the first of what was to be a long line of brief separations from her. By the age of two he had had eight brief receptions into Care and two “social stays” in hospital. When Jack was 18 months old, concern at his parents’ inability to provide consistent care led to his name being placed on the “At Risk” register. One could surmise that whilst there may, sporadically, have been an adequate “holding environment” there would also have been period