This week on Home and Away in Australia, just weeks after Cohen met his father for the first time, has Adrian already decided to abandon him?
Following his mother Samantha’s (Heidi May) arrest back in June, when she and Cohen (Nathan Murray) were discovered living in a tent, Cohen was placed in the charge of foster carer Roo (Georgie Parker).
Shortly afterwards, facing several charges of theft, Samantha unexpectedly announced her intention to relinquish all rights to custody of Cohen.
Whilst Yabbie Creek sergeant David (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) began the process of attempting to track down any living relatives of Cohen, Roo held off telling Cohen the truth about his mother in the hope that a relation would come forward, or that Samantha would change her mind.
Cohen explained that he only knew of his gran who lived somewhere in Canberra, but David’s searches proved fruitless.
It was only after gaining Cohen’s trust that Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) managed to uncover another clue that led him to make a breakthrough—Cohen’s gran actually lived in Queanbeyan, just across the state border from Canberra in New South Wales.
Sadly David later discovered that Cohen’s gran had died of cancer only a few months earlier, and it seemed the search was at an end.
With Samantha’s formal renunciation of custody now complete, and Cohen’s letters to his mother coming back unopened from the prison, Roo finally had no choice but to gently tell Cohen that his mum had abandoned him.
The following week, when Cohen was admitted to hospital with tonsillitis, Roo made the decision that she wanted to adopt him, hoping to give the boy the stability he so desperately needed.
Cohen was thrilled at the idea, and Roo wasted no time in approaching the department to begin the process.
But everything came crashing down when David uncovered something unexpected in Samantha’s old case files.
When she had been arrested as a teenager, already eight months pregnant with Cohen, her bail had been posted by her then-partner—a man named Adrian Purcell (Tom Matthews).
Both David and social worker Harper quickly concluded that Adrian was most likely Cohen’s father.
Summoned to Yabbie Creek police station, Adrian confirmed that he had always believed himself to be Cohen’s dad, and still carried a photo of him in his wallet.
Samantha had walked out with Cohen when he was just three months old, insisting that Cohen wasn’t Adrian’s child and cutting off all contact.
Although the plan had been to wait for DNA confirmation, Adrian couldn’t resist approaching Cohen when he spotted him with Roo near the surf club. Adrian introducing himself left Cohen bewildered, forcing Cash to intervene and Roo to explain the truth.
When the test results came through, they confirmed what Adrian had always believed—he was Cohen’s father. For Roo, the confirmation was bittersweet, knowing that it could now mean losing the boy she’s grown to love.
A first meeting between the pair seemed to go well, with Cohen already beginning to call Adrian “dad” as they played footy together.
But the following day, Adrian attempted to explain to Cohen that he had never abandoned him. It was Samantha who had deceived him and taken Cohen away. Cohen—still idolising his mother—refused to believe she would lie, and angrily rejected his father.
Roo initially didn’t hesitate to accept Cohen’s decision, keen to keep Adrian at a distance, but when Alf took Cohen out fishing, the boy admitted the real reason behind their falling out.
Alf encouraged Roo to give Adrian another chance, reminding her that this was all new territory for him too.
Meanwhile, Roo was warned by Harper that if she continued to obstruct Adrian’s relationship with Cohen, she risked being removed as the boy’s foster carer. Realising she had to step back, Roo allowed Cohen to meet with Adrian again, and father and son agreed to start over.
This week, as TV Week reports, Cohen is eager to learn more about Adrian. However, when Adrian admits to her that he has no idea how to be a father, Roo’s concerned that he may not even want the responsibility, and he could be building Cohen’s hopes up for nothing.
Stuck at the beginning of the adoption process, the thought of losing him is almost unbearable for Roo, with Cohen also feeling conflicted.
“Cohen has begun to trust her and can see how caring she is,” Nathan Murray told TV Week of Roo and Cohen’s relationship.
Adrian soon joins Roo and Cohen for dinner, where he excitedly talks about his wider family and promises to introduce Cohen to them all.
Yet the following day, whilst Cohen spends time with Alf talking fishing and family stories, Roo is stunned to discover Adrian packing up his car, ready to leave town.
Without offering a reason, Adrian insists that he has to leave, simply saying, “Tell Cohen I’m sorry.”
Roo is completely thrown by the development, and is devastated by the thought of what must come next. Having only just broken the news to Cohen that his mother no longer wanted him, he now faces the pain of his father doing the same thing.
“That [decision by his mother] crushed Cohen and so it was very hard for Roo to break this news to him,” Nathan points out.
As Cohen begins to fear he has once again been abandoned, Roo is determined not to let him down.
Putting her own feelings aside, she heads to the police station and asks David for Adrian’s address. She has to talk to him and try and make him change his mind, for Cohen’s sake.
But can Roo convince Adrian to return to the bay for his son—or will her efforts only push him even further away?
