Coming up on Home and Away in Australia, Roo’s dreams of adopting Cohen hit a stumbling block as a man arrives claiming he may be the child’s dad.
Cohen (Nathan Murray) arrived in Summer Bay back in mid-May, when new Sergeant David Langham (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) was called out to a disturbance involving a local homeless woman.
David arrived to find the woman, Samantha (Heidi May), shouting at officers outside her tent.
He gently introduced himself and tried to encourage her to let him find her somewhere safe to stay, where she wouldn’t be hounded by the local residents.
However, shortly after, Constable Tom Bowman (Nick Drummond) drew David’s attention to a large quantity of mobile phones he’d just found concealed in the boot of Samantha’s car.
Samantha began to kick off, and as David tried to control the situation, he was surprised when a voice called out from Samantha’s tent—”Mum…?”
While David sympathised with Samantha and Cohen’s situation, he had no choice but to arrest Samantha, with the phones matching the description of a batch which had recently been stolen from a Reefton Lakes warehouse.
David took Cohen back to Yabbie Creek Police Station, promising that he would be looked after.
When it transpired that Samantha had a string of warrants for shoplifting, and breaking and entering, it became clear that she wouldn’t be released anywhere any time soon, and David was forced to begin the search for emergency accommodation for the young child.
Conveniently, Roo (Georgie Parker) had just returned from Merimbula, having taken a break from Summer Bay after her upsetting experience with her last foster child, Eliza (Martha Kate Morgan).
Cohen soon found himself moving into Summer Bay house along with Roo and Marilyn (Emily Symons), as Roo gained her second foster placement of the year.
Before long, Alf (Ray Meagher) too returned to Summer Bay from Merimbula, where he gave Roo his full support, despite his previous concerns over her fostering again so soon after Eliza.
What was meant to be a temporary situation became a lot more permanent when David informed Roo that Samantha had decided to relinquish all parental rights to her son, and wanted nothing more to do with him.
As the police tried to track down any other family members, Cohen’s only recollection was of a grandmother in Canberra.
However, a search for Cohen’s grandmother also reached a dead end, as news arrived that she had died only months earlier, and Roo realised that Cohen could be with her for the long run.
As Cohen began to grow closer to his new foster family, forming a particular bond with Alf over a shared interest in fishing, Roo was given an idea. She revealed to her father that she was considering adopting Cohen.
Harper (Jessica Redmayne) made it clear that the adoption could only go ahead if Cohen consented. Roo later sat Cohen down and explained the situation, making it clear that Samantha would always remain his mum, but that she wanted them to be a family together in the bay.
With Cohen’s consent, Roo immediately set about the application process to adopt the teen, and it seems like she could soon be a mother again.
“At first, Cohen wasn’t very fond of the idea [of adoption] because that meant he would most likely not be able to see his mother again,” Nathan Murray tells Aussie magazine TV Week. “But, after he realised how caring, friendly and loving Roo was to him, he quickly decided that’s what he wanted.”
However, she’s about to hit a major stumbling block, as a new character arrives in the coming weeks.
Home and Away posted a new promo to its Instagram account on Wednesday, showing that a man will turn up in Summer Bay claiming to be Cohen’s father.
The promo begins by reminding us of the moment that Roo asked Cohen how he would feel if she adopted him, along with a clip of Marilyn taking a photo of the teen with his rod, as he goes off to join Alf for a day’s fishing.
Roo’s heart swells as her potential adoptive child smiles for the camera.
“Her dreams of becoming a mum again are almost within reach,” the promo’s voiceover tells us.
Then, we see a new character enter Yabbie Creek Police Station, played by Tom Matthews.
“I’m Adrian Purcell, I’m here about Cohen,” he says to the staff behind the counter.
As Sergeant Langham talks to Adrian in the interview room, he asks him: “Is there a chance that you could be his father?”
David is then forced to call Roo and tell her that they need to put her adoption application on hold, pending the results of a DNA test to confirm whether Adrian is indeed Cohen’s father.
The promo shows Roo looking taken aback, as she rushes down to Yabbie Creek police station after hearing the news.
She puts her hand to her head as she watches the new arrival through the window of the interview room.
TV Week has since revealed that Adrian arrives at the station holding a photo of a newborn baby – and he believes that it’s Cohen.
“I just wanted to say thank you for taking care of him,” Adrian tells Roo as the pair meet for the first time.
“Well, no one else was here to do it,” Roo answers back, coldly.
“How far will she go to protect him?” the voiceover asks.
While it appears Roo wants Adrian to hold back from getting to know the boy who is potentially his son, it seems he’s got other ideas.
Cohen has no idea that Adrian has arrived in Summer Bay – he’s never met his dad, and doesn’t know anything about him.
Roo decides to keep the news from Cohen for now, and the pair carry on with their day. Yet the promo shows that Adrian will approach Cohen in the parkland back in Summer Bay, recognising Roo from the station and putting two and two together.
Despite Roo’s best efforts to keep the pair apart, Adrian says the words which could change Cohen’s life completely – “I think I’m your dad!”
“You can’t say that to him,” Roo tells Adrian, as Cash rushes over, having spotted their altercation.
“I don’t have a dad,” Cohen replies.
“You can’t say that to him,” Roo shouts again. “Cash!”
“He starts yelling out Cohen’s name, who becomes very confused because he doesn’t know who he is,” Nathan explains to TV Week. “He thought this man was trying to take him away from the only person that cared about him.”
“What’s going on?” asks Cash.
As Cohen demands answers, is the new arrival about to ruin Roo’s dreams of a family with her new foster child before they’ve even begun?
The arrival of one of Cohen’s family members has been expected for some time, with actor Tom Matthews spotted filming alongside Cohen actor Nathan Murray back in March.
In a scene believed to have been filmed on Tuesday 11th March, the new foster child was seen with an older male character, whose identity was at that point unknown.
The pair approached Roo and Marilyn and conversed, before walking off together.
Fan Hayley Woodman also witnessed the same actor filming with Nathan Murray’s character Cohen a couple of weeks later, on 25th March.
The pair shared a loving hug, as Roo watched on.
If Adrian really is Cohen’s father, will Roo be prepared to let her new foster child go?
