Seat Belts Please!

Get Ready For

Kojo’s

Life Journey

2008

1

All About Kojo

Kojo’s Home and

Kojo’s Nursery

Kojo’s

The Beginning

Kojo’s Time with

June

Kojo’s Mum and Dad

More About Kojo

2008

2

(scan in photograph) This is Kojo and as you can see he is a fine looking boy, with big brown eyes and a great smile! Kojo was born on the 5th April 2004, so that makes him 4 years old at the moment.

Kojo is fit and healthy and he has plenty of energy. He is tall and just about the right size for a 4 year old and of course, his mum and dad think that he is just lovely!

Kojo likes being outside either riding his bike, playing football and going to the park. He has lots of toys – but his favourites are his cars.

Kojo just loves cars - small ones, large ones, fast ones, slow ones, electronic ones, push along ones, ones with wheels and even ones without wheels

3

Kojo just loves cars!

4

Kojo lives in a town called Newton, with his mum and dad.

Kojo’s mum is called Pat and his dad is Samuel, but most people call him Sam for short. They are both from sunny Ghana, in West Africa, and they speak both English and Twi. They left Ghana many years ago, in 1990, and came to live and work in Britain, and now they live in Newton.

Kojo’s dad is a chemist and before Kojo became their son, his mum worked on the computers in the College in Newton.

Kojo’s family is a happy one and they have lots of fun together. His mum and dad really like taking Kojo out for walks, so he is beginning to know Newton very well.

5 He really likes going to local parks, and his favourites is Green Park as they have really good swings and a slide there - and it is also quite near to McDONALD’s!

?

I wonder what Kojo likes to eat when he goes there?

Kojo and his mum and dad all live in a very nice house, and it has a good garden, big enough for him to play football in!

Kojo has his own bedroom and the walls are painted blue. He has a Thomas the tank engine poster on his wall, Thomas the tank curtains and even a Thomas the tank duvet cover. I think that Kojo must really like Thomas. I wonder?

Kojo also has some family photographs in his room, and he has one of June. This is the lady who looked after him before he came to live in Newton, with his mum and dad.

6 On Sundays Kojo goes to church with his mum and dad. They all enjoy the singing and Kojo likes listening to the bible story in the church’s children group.

7

Kojo goes to Park Road nursery school and his teacher is Mrs Smith. Kojo enjoys going to nursery and I am sure that his teacher must really enjoys having Kojo in her class too! Kojo’s favourite things are numbers, cutting and sticking and playtime.

Mrs Davies said that Kojo gets on really well with all of the other children and he has lots of friends at nursery but his main ones are Ben, Joseph and Kay. Kojo and his friends enjoys playing football, and using the computers

Kojo will be starting big school soon, and I am sure that he will enjoy this too.

8

Kojo’s full name is Kojo Enam Boateng.

Kojo is a Ghanaian name and means ‘born on a Monday’. Lots of Ghanaians name their children after the day of the week on which they were born - and Kojo was born on a Monday!

Enam is also Ghanaian and it means, ‘a gift from God’. His mum and dad chose this name because they feel that Kojo is such a precious gift.

His is Boateng – the same as his mum and dad. Of course, Kojo’s surname was not always Boateng. At first it was Kojo Asamoah. How could this be?

Well, come in all shapes and sizes and children join families in all sorts of ways. Some children born into them, some live with aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends, special guardians or foster carers and some are adopted into their families.

Foster carers usually look after children for a short while, until they can move on to a new family. Julia, the lady who looked after Kojo, was a foster carer.

9 Adoptive parents are forever parents - children stay with their adoptive mums and dads until they are all grown up! Mum and dad are Kojo’s adoptive parents.

There will be other adopted children in Newton and in the whole country and indeed all over the world! And there are lots of famous people and character that have also been adopted too, like:

Baby Moses & Superman

…and Nelson Mandela

So like thousands of other children Kojo was adopted and this is how he became:

Kojo Enam Boateng

10

Like most children, Kojo was born in hospital. He was born in St Luke’s Hospital in London.

Kojo was born on the 5tht April 2004, and this was a Monday.

Kojo arrived before he was actually expected! He was premature, which means that he was born 6 weeks early.

He was born at 7.20 hours, and that’s the same as saying 20 minutes past 7 in the morning. So he arrived just around breakfast time!

Although he was small, Kojo was a gorgeous little bundle with big brown eyes and black curly hair.

11

Kojo weight was 2 kgs when he was born, and that’s about the same as 2 bags of sugar.

Kojo had to stay in hospital for a while, as he was quite small, and all the nurses agreed that he was such a gorgeous, loveable baby and they all enjoyed caring for him.

Kojo soon put on a bit of weight and when he was 3 weeks old he was well enough to leave the hospital

Like all babies Kojo has a birth mother and a birth father. Kojo’s birth mother is Ella and his birth father was called Emmanuel. They both came from different counties in Africa; Ella came from Ghana, just like Kojo’s adoptive mum and dad, while Emmanuel came from Nigeria.

GHANA NIGERIA

12 Very little else is known about Emmanuel. Ella said that he was quite tall, about 5ft 10 ins with black skin and hair and dark brown eyes. She didn’t really know him very well, but thought that he was about 40 years old and he worked in a garage in South London.

Ella was born in the capital of Ghana, Accra. She has long black hair and she often changes her hair . She is quite small, only about 5ft and slim.

This in Ella

Ella was born in 1981 so she was in 23 when Kojo was born. She didn’t have any brothers or sisters and her parents had died when she was a very young child, so she was brought up by her grandmother in Ghana.

The family were quite poor and life was quite difficult for Ella in Ghana, so a few years ago, after her grandmother had died, Ella decided to come to England to live.

Although Ella was pleased to be living here, and she felt that life was much better for her, sometimes she just wasn’t feeling very well and that’s when she would become very unhappy and ‘down’. Then she would become very muddled in her thinking and she just wasn’t always able to look after herself very well. Sometimes she would even forget to eat for several days and had to go into hospital so that she could be looked after.

13 When Kojo was born in 2004, Ella was very happy and just like everyone else, she thought that he was a lovely baby. She decided to call him Kojo as he was born on a Monday morning. She thought that he was a gorgeous, beautiful little boy, and while they were still in the hospital, and with the help of the nurses, she was able to look after him.

Kojo and Ella left hospital together as soon as the doctors felt that he was ready, and they stayed in a large house, called Pine Trees, with lots of other families. There were some other helpers, social workers and nurses there who were able to show Ella how to look after little baby Kojo.

Everyone tried to help Ella care for Kojo but sometimes she still became very muddled about everything, and after a few weeks the helpers, the nurses and the social workers who knew Ella all felt that she would not be able to look after little baby Kojo in the very special way that babies need to be looked after.

Kojo and June So, when Kojo was still a very lttle baby, just 6 wweks old he moved from Pine Trees and he went to live with June. June was his foster carer and she knew exactly how to look after little baby Kojo. She had looked after lots of

14 children before, and while Kojo was living with her she was also looking after another little boy, called Conner.

Ella still wanted to see Kojo and when she was feeling well enough she would come with the social worker to see him at June’s house or sometimes they would spent time together in the playroom at the Family Centre, usually this was 3 times a week.

Kojo was still just a little baby so he will not remember this, but Ella loved seeing him and on each visit she liked to give him presents and she would often buy Kojo lovely new clothes. Although Ella loved Kojo, she just wouldn’t have been able to do all the other things that grownups must do keep babies and children safe and to help them grow strong.

In fact, bringing up children is a bit like building a wall. To make tall, strong walls you need a very good foundation and then, using just the right type, and just the right amount of cement, you carefully lay all the different bricks on top. You can see from this wall of bricks that children need love, but they also need lots of different kinds of caring to help them grow properly, and they need to be cared for by grown ups who can look after children.

15 BRINGING UP CHILDREN IS A BIT LIKE BUILING A STRONG WALL

DOCTOR CHECKS DENTAL CHECKS PLAY TIMES BED TIMES

TAKEN TO SCHOOL CUDDLES RULES CLEAN CLOTHES

CHECK HOMEWORK HUGS A SAFE HOME FUN GOOD FOOD

LAUGHS STORIES TALKS KISSES ATTENTION WARMTH

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

Ella had lots of love but she just wouldn’t able to do all these other things.

16

So when Kojo was two months old he went to live with June, his foster carer, and with the other little boy who lived there – Connor

Connor with his teddy At first it must have been very strange for little baby Kojo, but Kojo was soon happily settled with June. Over the years she had looked after lots of babies and children, and in her care Kojo soon grew into a happy, healthy toddler.

A very happy KOJO

17 Lots of important and interesting things happened to Kojo while he was living with June. For instance: -

Kojo’s first tooth grew – and then some more grew!

Kojo began to crawl around.

Kojo began to eat solid foods.

Kojo began to sit, to stand and then to walk.

Kojo certainly did a lot of growing when he was living with June.

Kojo also had his first Christmas at June’s House

18

I wonder what was inside that box. And he had his 1st Birthday

And his 2nd Birthday...... and his 3rd Birthday Although Kojo was doing very well and he was happy at June’s house, and June loved looking after him, everyone felt that he was such a precious little boy and he really needed a new family all of his own. The social workers had lots of meetings to talk about Kojo and to think about what would be best for him and then they went to the Court to see the Judge.

Judges are very clever and very wise people. He listened to everyone and read lots of reports and heard all about Kojo and June and Ella.

The Judge agreed that Kojo was a very special little boy and he thought that he should be living in a family all of his own – one with a mum and dad who would be able to understand Kojo, love him and care for him in the way that he deserves.

19 The judge also knew that Ella had loved her little baby Kojo, but she just wasn’t able to look after him. He said that Kojo’s new mum and dad would be able to write to Ella from time to time so that she would know that he was loved, well and happy. Ella could also write to them with her news.

20

Pat and Sam were just the right grownups to be Kojo’s mum and dad. They knew what to do to help him to grow into a healthy, strong child – just like that strong brick wall. They knew that children need lots of love and cuddles, plenty of sleep, good food, a warm house, clean clothes, lots of fun, games and playtimes, and just the right number of rules to make sure that children are kept safe and secure.

Kojo’s Mum and Dad lived quite a long way from June’s house and when they came to June’s home to meet Kojo and you could say that it was ‘love at first sight’ for them. Kojo was a bit shy and unsure at first, but that big smile was soon back on Kojo’s face. They visited every day so that he could get to know them. June was really pleased too. Although she knew that she and Connor would really miss Kojo she was delighted to see that he had such a lovely mummy and daddy all of his own. Soon after this June packed up all of Kojo’s things. She and Connor gave him lots of kisses and big hugs, and then he made the long journey to Newton.

21

So, Kojo moved to his new home just after his 3 rd birthday - and that is how he became Sam and Pat’s son. Of course it must have been very strange for little Kojo when he first moved to Newton. Although Sam and Pat knew that they were going to be Kojo’s mum and dad forever, he would have been too young to understand this at the time - Kojo had to get used to his new house. The rooms looked different, his bedroom was different, the furniture was different, the smells were different, the food was different. There were different Boateng ways of doing things, and perhaps they even had different words for things. What a lot of different things for a little boy to get use to!

Kojo’s mum and dad realised all this and they knew that it was all very strange for their little boy. Kojo didn’t sleep very well and didn’t eat much at first, but his mum and dad knew that in time and with their love and care they could help Kojo feel happy, safe and secure - and of course they were right!

The most important thing was that Kojo’s mum and dad understood him, they looked after him, they knew just what he needed - and they love him dearly.

22 After Kojo had been living with his mum and dad for quite a long time, for over a year, and when everyone knew each other very well, they all went to the Court in Newton to see the another wise judges. This time it was a lady judge.

Mum, dad and the social workers were there - and of course the most important person that day, Kojo - all went to court on the 18th September 2008.

The Judge listened to everyone again, read the reports and heard all about Ella. The judge agreed that Kojo needs lots of love and deserves very special care – and she could see that this is exactly what he was getting from Sam and Pat – his mum and dad.

Kojo at the Court on his Special Adoption Day 2008

The judge gave an Adoption and signed the Adoption Certificate and mum and dad chose Enam – Gift from God- as his , and it was agreed that this would be added to his new birth certificate along with his new

23 surname. - and that is how Kojo became legally and officially: -

Kojo Enam Boateng

Congratulations Everyone!

24

So Kojo has been living with his mum and dad for quite a long time now and they are a very happy family. As you can see from this photograph he is still a very handsome boy. He still has plenty of energy and he is growing taller and taller by the day!

Kojo’s mum and dad certainly know him very well. For instance they know that: -

Kojo loves all sorts of cars.

Kojo enjoys going to the parks.

Kojo’s favourite football team is Chelsea and he knows the of all their players.

25 He likes watching Cbeebies TV.

Kojo’s favourite colour is blue because he support Chelsea

Kojo’s favourite food is rice and chicken and he likes fu-fu. He also likes eating out and then it is burger and chips!!

Kojo’s mum and Dad also know that like all strong, growing boys, he needs his sleep! So before bed he has a cup of horlicks, then a story and by 7.30pm Kojo is in bed, although on weekends his bedtime is later.

So, as you can see, Kojo’s mum and dad know so many important things about him.

And they know that Kojo has lots of plans for the future and when he grows up he thinks that he might like to be a dentist but he is not too sure.

26

Or he might also be a policeman, or with his interest in cars he thinks it might also be nice to be a car mechanic. So Kojo had plenty of ideas – but I wonder what he will be when he grows up? I wonder...

…But there are some things that I don’t need to wonder about! I just know for sure that whatever Kojo decides to do in the future, his mum and dad will be there to help him, to guide him and to love him. They will always be his mum and dad, and Kojo will always be their very, very precious son....

27

This may seem

like the end of this book but … …Kojo’s life

journey will

go on and

on...

And there are many more adventures and fun to come!

28