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My AS (now aged 2 and his wife have five children, all in care. It has been a long, hard, sad story. My AD and I had maintained contact with the two oldest grandchildren who are in long term foster care. They had ended contact with their parents. I have just heard from the foster mother that they have decided they do not want further contact with us so it will cease. It has come out the blue. I feel so sad for my daughter who loves them so much. I am also sad for me because I love them too. So I have lost all the grandchildren. My son and daughter in law are hopeful that the youngest baby may yet be returned to their care. I don''t know what to think. They are doing everything asked of them by the social workers. They see her frequently, they attend parenting classes, go for counselling, the flat is spic and span, they are cooperating, they have a favourable psychologist''s report. But I am filled with trepidation. I fear I know what will happen. If they get the baby home, history will repeat itself. My daughter in law is following the lifestory of her mother. (She had four children who all went into care. Later on she had another four children by a different partner and they all went into care too). My daughter in law would not be happy just to have one baby. She is very fertile and she will just go on having more children, one after the other. They won''t cope again, the children will be neglected, poorly supervised, their lives will be chaotic, my daughter in law will become increasingly mentally unstable. History will repeat itself. So I feel no sense of hope for this possible experiment.I was really worried about how my daughter would react to the loss of contact with the girls. She loves them so much and is so good with them. They are the only family she has apart from me as she chooses to have no contact with her brother and sister in law because of what has happened to the children. I have discovered that tears and laughter can be closely allied. We were both on the verge of tears. She then started to relate to me the goings on at the nursing home where she works. She is an incredible comedienne. She was describing the outrageous behaviour of some of the old folk with dementia. The badly behaved ones are her favourites. (Well, she used to be dreadful herself, so she relates well to them). Really it would make a wonderful TV comedy programme. We were hysterical with laughter. Anyway I am visiting her tomorrow and we shall go out for a nice lunch together and I shall be much loved by her two dogs, that she says are her children.Lily I''m trying to stay strong.