Chloe Pearson was a social worker assigned to Alfie Franklin when he was born three months premature in March 2022. The child was conceived during a drunken fling between Abi Webster and Imran Habeeb and neither parent was aware that the child was on the way. Abi had spent a great deal of her life dealing with substance abuse and she was in the middle of a session with her supplier Dean Turnbull when her waters broke early and she went into labour.
Eventually turning up at Weatherfield General, she gave a false name and fled from the hospital soon afterwards to retrieve a stolen car from Dean which he had taken from the business of her husband Kevin Webster. Being returned after a crash in the car, she underwent an operation and Chloe visited her afterwards. In as kindly a way as possible, she explained that she needed to manage Abi's expectations as to whether she could be part of Alfie's life as she had given birth under the influence of narcotics, had been involved in the theft of a car, had a history of drug abuse and had previously had two children taken into care. This meant that Alfie might also be taken from her after their assessments and her best courses of action would be to enroll in a rehab programme and involve the father of the child in the matter.
Faced with the problem of exposing Imran's adultery to his partner Toyah Battersby, Abi initially rejected the baby, A few days later, Chloe called on Abi as Alfie's had been diagnosed with a bowel condition and needed an operation. The emergency focussed Abi's mind and she now fought to keep her baby.
Meeting Abi at her home a few days later, Chloe advised Abi that an application had been made to the court for the state to have temporary custody of Alfie, but she reiterated that social services were not child snatchers and they only wanted to ensure his safety, his care and his best chances in life. Abi reiterated that she wanted her baby and gave Chloe evidence that she was making efforts to turn her life round, though she was brutally honest that she was finding the processes hard but was determined to succeed.
At the subsequent hearing, Alfie was taken into custody of social services, and events took an even worse turn for Abi when Imran became mistakenly convinced that she was involved in substance abuse again. Although Toyah had discovered about his unfaithfulness, her overwhelming desire to have a child of her own led to her agreeing to the two of them applying to have custody of Alfie following on from their successful fostering of a girl named Elsie. The two put on a united front to Chloe, lying to some extent that their relationship problems were now over, and that they were totally committed to each other. Toyah went so far as to suddenly claim that they were getting married, and a happy Imran had no choice but to concur.
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List of appearances[]
2022