A Ghanaian woman named Adwoa, who was born in Belgium and now lives in the UK, shared her painful experience of how the Belgian government took her three children away. Speaking in an interview with DJ Nyaami on SVTV Africa’s Daily Hustle Worldwide, Adwoa explained how her trust in people led to this heartbreaking situation.
According to her, she used to allow her white friends to take her kids for weekend activities, believing they were simply helping. Unbeknownst to her, it was a setup to eventually place her children into foster care. At the time, she had four children—two were taken to one family, and the other two to another. They would return on Mondays after spending the weekends away. She was a single mother of six, having given birth to four children whose father had left her. Despite efforts to maintain peace and get him involved in their lives, he disappeared after only a few months and sent money just twice. She didn’t pursue court action, hoping for a peaceful resolution, but things only worsened.
Adwoa had spent most of her life in Brussels and moved to London later. With no family nearby to help, she placed her kids in daycare three months after giving birth so she could work. Later, she had two more children with another man, who eventually betrayed her by having an affair with her best friend’s daughter. They had already moved to the UK by then. Adwoa said he came into her life just to have kids with her and leave. He claimed she only accepted his marriage proposal after he got his papers, which she denies. They stayed together for four years, and the two children are only a few months apart in age.
Adwoa emphasized that she doesn’t believe in abortion and has always chosen to give birth. She hoped her children would grow close like siblings. Her second ex-partner also failed to support the children—he wouldn’t come to her house but occasionally visited them at school without providing any financial help.
Adwoa’s mother was in the UK and suggested they stay because it was an English-speaking country and offered better opportunities. But over time, Adwoa noticed that some white individuals who claimed they wanted to help were being paid by the government and used that opportunity to monitor and report families like hers. She once lied that they were only visiting the UK on holiday. When her white friends begged for her UK address, saying they couldn’t live without seeing her children, she gave in. Eventually, they informed the Belgian government of their whereabouts.
Adwoa noted the differences in the educational systems: in Belgium, the government chooses courses for children, but in the UK, children have more freedom to choose their path. She decided they would not return to Belgium. However, during the COVID pandemic, she briefly went back to Belgium with three of her children. One of them accidentally set the house on fire while trying to cook with oil. The child fled to a white family’s home. By the following Monday, the police came and took all her children away.
Someone advised her to flee with the remaining kids, and she planned to use a ferry to escape, but she was arrested before she could act. Her children were taken from her, and she didn’t see them again until three months later. When she finally did, they told her they preferred Belgium because they had friends and a house there. A man was living in her home in Belgium and had been asleep when the fire started. If she hadn’t been sending money to support them, the situation could have been worse. The children even contacted Belgian social services saying they didn’t like the UK.
Adwoa deeply regrets not sending her children to Ghana to learn their culture. She believes that children raised abroad often grow up selfish and detached, unlike those raised in Ghana, who typically develop empathy and family values. Although her children were taken, she is still allowed some holiday visits and phone calls.
She expressed frustration that the government benefits financially from foster care arrangements. Each of her three children was placed with different families. They will only be returned to her when they turn 18 and can live independently. Only two of them currently come back to visit her.
She contacted their father after they were taken, but he said he had no involvement in their lives and couldn’t help. She also warned the father of her last two children to stay away after hearing from him recently.
From her experience, Adwoa has learned not to trust white people who approach under the pretense of offering help. She warns against organizations like Plasore, which she claims deceive mothers and take their children. She feels many white people pretend to be friendly, only to exploit vulnerable families for personal or systemic gain.
Despite everything, she still prefers Belgium over the UK but fears returning because she believes the rest of her children might be taken away. Her mother has returned to Ghana, and now Adwoa wishes she could bring her remaining children there too, so they can grow up understanding their roots, identity, and values.
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