Advice Needed Please on Childrens Saving Policies Problem

Ex-Spendaholic

Hi

I'm wondering if anyone can advise me?

I have 3 children - aged 9, 5 and 7 months.

For the first 2 children I took out some sort of bond at £20 per month with the Family Assurance Society. These were to mature when they were 18. All was well until January 2007 when I fell into financial difficulties and had a multitude of other problems in my life. Unfortunately I stopped paying into these policies. The Society did write to me at the time about it but I buried my head in the sand as I had bigger, scarier worries.

Anyway now is the time to sort this out. Does anyone know what my options are likely to be? Have I lost all the money I have put in? Can I restart this plan and manage to have the money that was initially saved included? If none of this is possible can I get the money out that I paid in?

I'm sorry for sounding so dumb but as I've finally plucked up the courage to tackle this I thought I'd post in the hope that someone would know something.

Obviously I will contact the provider on Monday morning too.

Also is this type of product a good enough idea? I need to start something for the 3rd child.

Thanks in advance for any replies.