How family wrangles impacted Peter
Peter, six, from Uganda, was taken in by his foster mother Mary when he was one month old. Before this, she was fostering two other children she had taken under her wing from a children´s home. Mary is the sole breadwinner and she caters for her family´s needs through baking. Up until then, they lived ordinary lives. However, one of their relative´s false allegations shattered this normalcy.
Inheritance wrangles
Before Mary´s father died, he left Mary and her ten siblings a piece of land each. Years later, one of Mary´s siblings claimed that Mary was planning to leave the adopted children property yet they were not her biological children. She reported Mary to the police, alleging she had trafficked the children with the intention to sacrifice them. The police temporarily removed the children from their home because of the seriousness of the allegations. They were to stay at Dwelling Places while the police investigated the matter.
Scared
Peter was emotionally impacted by this sudden move. ¨I was scared to leave mummy behind. I knew that it was our aunt who was bringing us to the police and away from home over some family issues.¨ Peter mentioned. He exhibited low self-esteem and anxiety upon arrival at the shelter. To counter this, the shelter ensured that he spoke to his mother regularly on the phone. Peter was cared for, counselled and comforted emotionally and psychologically during his stay at the shelter. This made him open up and express himself during meetings.
Back home
The police investigations concluded that Mary was innocent. She had legal documents that proved she was the legal guardian of the children. The children were thus reunited with their mother. Peter is glad to be back home. He explains, ¨I like staying with my mother, and I hope that my aunties do not disturb her anymore.¨ During his free time Peter loves watching television and assisting his mother with any household chores that he can.