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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Allan Jenkins, Miranda Sawyer, Rhik Samadder, Séamas O’Reilly, Bidisha Mamata, Kathryn Bromwich and Alex Moshakis

Dear Mum … writers reflect on the unique influence of their mothers

Observer Allan Jenkins Miranda Sawyer Rhik Samadder Séamas OReilly Handout
Allan Jenkins (on the right), aged four, with his mum and her Siamese cat, and his brother Christopher, aged five.
Allan Jenkins (on the right), aged four, with his mum and her Siamese cat, and his brother Christopher, aged five. Photograph: The Jenkins family

Allan Jenkins, Observer Food Monthly editor, was born in Plymouth and entered the care system at eight weeks. He was fostered at the age of five

They call us “care-experienced”, motherless children brought up in care homes. My brother Christopher and I were fostered in the 1960s, raised from infants by an elderly couple. They had met and married too late for kids of their own.

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