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“I knew the family. And through the intervention by Tusla, I was made aware of the family challenges. At one of the meetings, I was asked, if the environment remained unsafe, would I consider looking after one of the children for a while? Even though I was a busy mother of three with a full-time job, I said yes. I wanted to help and I thought it was going to be for a few weeks or months until the family got the necessary support required. In Nigeria, looking after each other’s children is normal. For example, if you lived in the city and you had relatives or friends living in villages and their children got accepted into the city schools, they would send their kids to live with you until they finished school. It is a common thing – but I wasn’t expecting the huge amount of paperwork and all the questioning. It was very intense and the process took almost a year. They came at the weekends and would spend two-to-three hours questioning me and my family. They looked into our family history. They asked about my parents and how they used to handle different situations in the family. They asked about our previous jobs and police reports were requested from Nigeria to know if we had any criminal convictions. It was intense, to say the least, but I understood the necessity of this process. This was done for the children’s safety. Looking back, I thank God for the strength and the privilege given to me to be part of the child’s life for almost ten years now. My focus was always on the wellbeing of the child, and I was able to provide the motherly care and support that every child deserves. It’s been a wild ride, but I would do it all over again if I could. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the incredible transformation of a child through the love and care invested.”
This post was highlighted by TUSLA.
‘It only takes one person to change the life of a child’, could that be YOU?
For more information about Tusla Fostering visit www.fostering.ie