Mother longs to move out of ‘fowl coop’

Amoya McLeish, a 29-year-old mother of three in Oxford, Manchester could not hold back her tears as she shared how she has to live in a converted fowl coop, and was desperate to have a proper roof over her head.

After she shared her story on the charity vlog Blessings Have To Flow, this prompted a visit from the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA). McLeish said she was instructed by the investigator not to allow the children back in the dwelling or else they would be removed from the surroundings. A tearful McLeish is desperate to complete the one-bedroom structure that she started to build so she can once again be under the same roof with her children. She said construction stalled because of a lack of funds.

Charlyn Hooker, who has been trying to drum up support for McLeish, said she has always been a hard-working person who will take on any job to put feed her children.

"I know her since she was a child and I always try to assist her. The situation that Moya is in now is not what was meant to be or what she really wanted to happen," she said. Hooker also pleaded with other persons to stop bashing her friend

Reflecting on her life, McLeish said she was living in a house nearby for more than a year but the owner decided to refurbish the dwelling and sell it to a buyer. Left with no alternative, McLeish asked her sister to allow her to use the abandoned fowl coop as a makeshift house.

"I was trying to get someone else but I'm a bartender, and after buying food and sending them to school there is not enough money to pay for the houses that are renting," she shared.

A broken McLeish said the situation is tearing her apart as she went to her 11-year-old son's parent-teacher association meeting and he lashed out at her.

"He told me that I should not come around there because mi embarrass him," she shared, adding that people keep staring at her.

"Some people treat mi good, but some mock me," she said.

Rosalee Gage Grey, CEO of the CPFSA, clarified that the children were not removed from the mother, as they are residing on the same premises with one of her relatives. She said the agency has offered special assistance such as buying blocks and cement for needy persons, and her officers will be assessing McLeish's situation.

"Our aim is to maintain the family and the report from the officer is that the children are well taken care of, they are clean, they go to school on a regular basis, which is very commendable of mother and we want to support and help," she shared. She said that many persons shy away from coming to government agencies because the assumption is that their children will be taken away.

"No, we act in the child's best interest. If we have to take them for a period whilst the parents get back on their feet, then we do that and we reintegrate them with their families. So we have a whole reintegration programme so they come to us for a while. Sometimes the mother need skills training, we get them to HEART. They need supplies and so we help with that [so] we can get them registered," she said. "To take the children, it is a last resort."