| This morning the Nanny was supposed to be at college. I had arranged to have an early lunch with some good friends I've not seen for a while. Steve took the morning off, so he could meet them as well as we've left it so long. This morning as Pip was napping, Steve was doing some work, I dozed off and all seemed peaceful in the house. The phone rang and Steve took it. His tone made it clear that something was very wrong, I could hear him saying that we would have to cancel plans and he'd get me to call back straight away considering how 'urgent' this matter. My stomach churned as Steve relayed to me that the Nanny had been asked to leave the course and for our protection she was also asked to pack up and leave our property. I called the college straight away in a daze. Transpires that the other family the Nanny worked for have also called the police about things that have gone missing. The family still don't know that the Nanny has made a formal allegation of child sexual abuse, so it wasn't a reliation type accusation. As the police were investigating two seperate claims, they felt it was in our best interests to remove the Nanny. Furthermore, an additional meeting with her this morning resulted in the Nanny relaying conversations that she'd supposedly had with us about her work and hours - which of course didn't happen. Yesterday when the woman in charge called, she'd mentioned something about hours, etc which I took as a suggestion. Turns out she was testing to see if I knew anything about this supposed conversation the Nanny had claimed. This had added to the unease that she has this capacity to tell lies without any thought about consequences. The Nanny had since pulled a disappearing act and they were trying to contact her to get her back to the college so she could be escorted to our home to collect her stuff. I felt very sad BUT Steve and I still considered that she could be innocent. However, the option to stay with us was taken out of our hands. Our good friends came over to our place and we tried to relax and not let them get dragged into our soap opera life. The college thought it best we stay at home and await contact from the Nanny. The college called at midday to say that the Nanny had gone in, the woman in charge told her that if she took the stuff she should say now rather than risk a criminal conviction which would be attached to her and have a HUGE effect on her capacity to work in the future. She finally backed down and confessed to the theft at both houses. The college also said that now was the time to admit if she had also lied about the allegation towards the family. She said no. Whether its true or not, no one knows. Only that today a family's life will be turned inside out. Even if its true, the allegation came from someone with little credibility. I feel very lucky that our family haven't been directly compromised by anything this girl has done. We've got away from it relatively unscathed, just drained from the drama. The Nanny arrived at our home and got to work quickly packing aside from a few items we've later been told were stolen from other families. She was supervised by someone from the college. I felt sick to know how close we could have come to being taken advantage of. When she left she gave her key, a SIM card but was unable to return the mobile phone we provided. Saying she would provide it later through the college. I didn't question it, I didn't want to. I just wanted her to leave. She didn't apologise for anything. I went upstairs with Steve and struggled to fight the tears. Its a weird feeling that I have. We treated this girl like our family. We laughed with her, took her out for dinner, always provided for her, kept her safe and warm. Supported her even when everyone else was against her. The whole time she lied to us. She repeatedly told me how angry she was that she was being accused of theft - and the whole time another families items were up in her room in our house! She confided in me about this other family, so I am privvy to something so disturbing and private and I wish I didn't know. Pip will be very confused and poor Moons will miss her terribly, what do we tell her? I'm glad this situation is over and I hope the Nanny gets the help she needs. I feel sorry for the woman in charge, she's so deeply sorry for the whole thing, but its really not her fault. The Nanny presents in such a warm, caring way, its hard to question anything she says. At least for our family, we found out before it was too late. |