A Filipino girl abandoned by her unofficial foster parents and left without any documentation in the United Arab Emirates has been reunited with her biological mother.
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Fatima was given up by her mom as she was the result of an affair with another overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Dubai, Gulf News reported on May 6.
Her father left before she was born and her mom realized a month after the birth that she could not sustain the child on her own.
After coming forward, her mom says her true name is Angel and clarified that she is 7 years old, not 6 as initially believed.
Fatima’s mother, now 50, delivered her in a local hospital and filed the birth under her marriage certificate with her husband in the Philippines. She has two teenage daughters back home.
Through a friend, Fatima’s mom was connected to another Filipino woman who had a Pakistani partner. As per report, both were in their fifties and they agreed to care for Fatima, since they could not have children of their own.
Five years later, they experienced financial hardship due to problems with their company. As of December 2018, they could no longer stay at an accommodation in Ajman owned by another Pakistani, Syed Ali Moazzam. He decided to take the child in when he found the girl and her foster mom in the streets.
The child’s living situation was to be temporary, but Moazzam has not had much communication with the foster parents in the past five months. Even if he wants to adopt her, he would still need to go through Philippine courts.
He decided to get media attention so he could find Fatima’s mother and get her paperwork sorted, especially since she is unable to go to school.
In a Gulf News video on April 30, Fatima said she was eager to attend school so she can learn, draw and make new friends. Police promised the mother would not be arrested when she turned up.
Fatima finally met her mom at a fast food restaurant in Karama, a residential district in Dubai. Her mother recently availed of an amnesty to make her status legal in the country. She currently has a visa to look for a job for six months and only after obtaining a permanent visa can she get hospital records.
Meanwhile, Fatima’s former guardians have separated, the report stated. The woman lives in Deira in Dubai and has not received a salary for months. The man is in Pakistan for a cataract surgery and plans to return after Ramadan. Niña V. Guno/JB
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