Daahir and Yasmin’s special guardianship story

Little Ayaan had been in foster care since she was just three weeks old. Social Workers had tried to find her extended family but Ayaan’s mother and father refused to provide any details to the Local Authority and so, despite everyone’s best efforts to avoid it, the plan was made for Ayaan to be adopted by unrelated carers. She was getting ready to meet her new family when suddenly, her Social Worker got a phone call from Ayaan’s distant cousin, Daahir. Daahir was a cousin of Ayaan’s grandmother. He didn’t know anything about Ayaan being in care until someone from their community told them that they had heard she was going to be adopted.

Daahir and his wife, Yasmin, were shocked and rushed to meet with Ayaan’s mother to find out what was happening. She had given them the Social Worker’s phone number for them to call.

 “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! My own family was just going to let this sweet, little baby go? I don’t think my wife and I even spoke about it – we both instantly knew that we must do everything in our power to be able to care for Ayaan ourselves”, shared Daahir.

 Daahir and Yasmin worked with a Social Worker from the Kinship Care Team to complete their assessment to become Special Guardianship carers for Ayaan. The assessment was straightforward but felt very personal at times. Yasmin said, “We were really grateful for our Social Worker, Helen. She made the process a lot easier as she would speak with Ayaan’s Social Worker and all the other people involved to make sure the assessment was not delayed and that we were able to start having contact with Ayaan so she could get to know us. It felt like Helen needed to speak to everyone we knew – our work places, friends, family members – it was hard to have to share what we were going through with others but Helen pointed out that we would need support from lots of these same people if Ayaan came to live with us so it was good to start building our support system.”

Daahir and Yasmin were helped to understand the legal process and what being a Special Guardian would be like through attending training provided by the Local Authority. Their son, Zahi, was also spoken to and Helen worked with him to make sure he understood the changes that could take place in his family. Zahi looked forward to these sessions with Helen and he was able to share his excitement but also his worries about having Ayaan live with him.

After a few weeks of weekly home visits and collecting together all of the information, Helen informed Daahir and Yasmin that they were going to be recommended as Special Guardians for Ayaan. They were very happy and felt this was an answer to their prayers.

It took several months to have everything approved at Court. The couple found it stressful but knew that they could call Helen at any time to talk about what was happening and to share how they were feeling. But, finally, Daahir, Yasmin, and Zahi got the news they were hoping for – Ayaan would be placed with them under a Special Guardianship Order until she was 18 years old. Daahir said, “we felt everything all at once! We were celebrating for ourselves, grieving for the parents who felt they lost their daughter, and overjoyed for Ayaan”.

Ayaan has now been living with Daahir and Yasmin for 7 years. She understands that they are her Special Guardians and is glad they made the decision to care for her.

 “They might be my cousins or aunts and uncles on paper but, to me, they are mum and dad. Zahi annoys me so much…but that’s what big brothers are for!”