*After mum left her with people she ‘didn’t know or trust’
A two-year-old girl drowned in a dustbin in 9cm of water after her mother had no choice but to leave her with people she ‘didn’t know or trust’.
Mum-of-two Balikis Adeoye, 37, who was living in Dagenham, had to go to the hospital to be with her baby boy who was recovering from heart surgery.
Now, the “heartbroken” mum is demanding answers from Newham Council and its inability to find a foster carer for her daughter while she stayed with her son.
Balikis said she had no family or support network to rely on, so the foster care was essential for her daughter, Mazeedat.
But an inquest has heard social workers did not arrange a placement and advised Balikis to find support from the community or friends.
As a result, Balikis had to leave her daughter with a carer, who she did not know or trust, as a last resort when she needed to be in hospital.
On the day Balikis and her son were due to return home, Mazeedat went missing from the house in Dagenham where she was staying.
Following a search, tiny Mazeedat was found in a bin in the garden which contained nine centimetres of water and she had drowned.
An inquest concluded Mazeedat died due to inadequate supervision in the garden and combined failures by the council and those caring for Mazeedat together constituted a “gross failure.”
Heartbroken Balikis said: “I struggle to find the words to describe the heartbreak I feel over Mazeedat’s death.
“She was the most beautiful and happy little girl who brought sunshine to my life. Before her birth, I only knew how to love myself. When she was born Mazeedat was the best thing that had happened in my life.
“I’ll always keep Mazeedat close to my heart and will forever cherish the short but precious years we had together. I just hope that by speaking out other families facing the same situation don’t have to experience the same pain I will always live with.”
The inquest, undertaken by Irwin Mitchell, concluded on Friday.
Balikis moved to the UK from Nigeria in March 2021.
She had first been referred to Newham Council four months before her daughter’s death because she was sofa surfing and she and Mazeedat had nowhere to stay. By that time Balikis was an overstayer having separated from her UK partner She had no recourse to public funds (NRPF), meaning she could not claim for assistance to help with her living costs. But the council still had a duty to provide her family with support.
In September 2021, after her son, who is British, was diagnosed with a hole in the heart, Balikis had asked social services at Newham Council to help find a foster placement for her daughter This was because she needed to stay with her son when he went into hospital for life-saving surgery. But this never happened and one social worker even said Balikis had two children so needed to provide an equal level of support, East London Coroner’s Court heard.
