Parcels in the Post: Growing Up With Fifty Siblings

It’s the early 1980s and Fiona Neary and her family have recently moved back from England to the family farm. Fiona’s huge-hearted mum decides to take in foster children – a decision that will change all their lives. Over the next decade, a procession of faces passes through the house. Every child has their own story, and each story claims a little piece of Fiona’s heart. Some stay a few weeks; some months, and then years. All these children, as well as Fiona and her family, must pass through a chaotic system: where a judge’s decision can alter a child’s life, for better or worse; where emergency placements can break up siblings; where the foster family are often left in the dark and with little back-up. Filled with pathos and humour, Parcels in the Post is both a memoir of a loving household and snapshot of the fostering system in Ireland, from someone at the very heart of it all.