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In 2001, her mother died in a car accident whilst in Andalucia, Spain. After the funeral in the UK, her brother and sister returned to Spain with their father where they began school. However, their father turned to drink and eventually became unable to care for them and in 2005, Jemma was told that the children had been taken into the care of social services in Almeria. She went to Spain immediately to see them but there was very little she could do. After a couple of months, she received a phone call from the Spanish authorities who told her that unless someone in the family could take on the children, they would have to be put into foster care. They could give her no guarantees that they would be kept together or that she could visit them. Jemma made the decision right there that she would look after them. She was 24 and had just graduated from university.
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