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Guest Character Profiles > Addison Rutherford Florence Gladwin

Having found things left around the school when she arrived in the mornings, Erinsborough High principal Jane Harris arrived one day with fellow teacher Wendy Rodwell to hear the fire alarm going off. After finding the source of the problem - a toaster in the school common room - she was confused about what was going on after then hearing a door slam nearby. At the end of that day, Wendy was alone in her classroom when she noticed a blanket hanging out of one of the lockers, then found a pillow inside. Hearing a noise nearby, she went outside, where a young girl was inside one of the bins, searching, quickly pulling down the lid when she heard someone coming. As Wendy then began to put the padlock on the bin, the girl panicked and jumped out, causing the lid of the bin to hit Wendy in the face and knock her out.

Now certain that something was amiss, Jane searched the school that night, along with Susan Kennedy and Colton Keys - who worked at the adjoining retirement home Eirini Rising - and they soon found year 10 student Addison Rutherford sleeping in one of the classrooms. Feeling terrible about accidentally hurting one of her favourite teachers, Addison explained to them that she and her mum had been evicted from their house and, whilst her erratic mum had gone off the rails, Addison had gone to stay with friends. When things didn't work out there, she'd been sleeping at the school and had been searching the bins for things to sell in order to make some money. Soon, Leila Potts from Child Protection Services arrived and told a grateful Addison that they would arrange emergency foster care for her.

When Jane found Addison at the school the following weekend, the young girl explained that she'd been looking for somewhere quiet to study and when another student, JJ Varga-Murphy, turned up looking for his charger, Jane asked him to talk to Addison and try to get her to open up. It seemed to be working, and JJ and Addison went to Harolds Cafe to talk about their complicated lives, but Addison was upset when cafe manager Nicolette Stone - who also happened to be Jane's daughter - tripped over her bag and, following an argument, threw Addison out. After catching Addison at the school again later, Jane realised that she wasn't entirely happy at her emergency foster home and arranged for her to stay at her house for the night whilst they came up with a new plan. However, when Nicolette then returned home and found Addison there, she was furious, though she softened when she found the young girl wandering around that night, unable to sleep and looking for something to help. Nic gave her some aromatherapy oils and, the next morning, it seemed like their relationship might be improving. Unfortunately, things quickly took a turn for the worse when Nic decided to try and find Addison's mum, Shannon, only to learn from Krista Tanaka that she was a drug dealer who recovering addict Krista used to buy from. Now worried that Addison couldn't be trusted either, Nic was voicing her concerns when Addison came in and overheard her and, despite Krista's attempts to comfort her, she packed her bags and moved out of Jane's house, claiming that she had a new foster home to go to, though she soon found out that there wasn't really room for her there either.

After Addison was then found sleeping rough behind the tram on Power Road, Krista was determined to help and decided to try and contact her old dealer. When Shannon didn't respond, Krista then decided to claim that she wanted to score drugs and this time, Shannon arrived, annoyed when she realised that she'd been set up and Krista wanted to talk about Addison. Though Krista thought that she'd managed to get through to Shannon and told Addison that she was going to meet them, the young girl was left disappointed when her mum sent a text apologising, having clearly taken something. With few options left, Krista then offered to take Addison in for a few nights and was surprised when, the next day, Shannon sent another text, this time revealing the name of Addison's father. Krista was shocked as she realised that they knew him - Clint Hendry, a school cleaner who Jane had dated earlier that day, before reporting him to the police when she realised he'd been stealing cleaning supplies to help pay for his mother's medical care.

Jane then asked Clint to meet her and told him about the situation Addison was in, and how she needed his help. Clint admitted that he knew about his daughter, the result of a one-night stand with Shannon when he was nineteen years old, but had only learnt of her existence when she was nine and Shannon had contacted him looking for child support money. At Shannon's request, however, he'd stayed out of Addison's life but was now very willing to meet her and be a part of her life. Having been told that her father had abandoned them when she was a baby, Addison was happy to meet Clint and to hear his side of the story and, with their first meeting going well, it was arranged for them to see each other again.

Episodes Featured
9328, 9329, 9332, 9333, 9336, 9337, 9338, 9339

Biography by Steve

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