After losing both of her parents by the age of eight Angel-Joy Darko was placed in the care system. Her headteacher Sarah Kneller stepped in to become her legal guardian, in a story similar to that of the Roald Dahl character Matilda.
Angel lost her father at just four-years-old to a heart attack, throwing her mum and her into poverty as they struggled to come to terms with their grief. The family of two slept on the sofas of people from their church and spent days walking the streets.
But whilst going through this Angel’s mum, Agnes, a care worker, became ill and was diagnosed with cancer. Tragically she died two years later, leaving Angel an orphan with no family in the UK as her extended family live in Ghana, Birmingham Live reports.
Sarah, headteacher at Summerswood Primary, Hertfordshire, had already built a “good relationship” with Angel and stepped in to help the eight year old plan her mother’s funeral. Angel then moved into the home of her mum’s best friend, but was placed in care shortly after as the friend already had five children of her own and limited space.
Angel was placed with a “wonderful” foster family but had to move on after a year, at which point social services got in touch with Sarah. The headteacher had told authorities to contact her if Angel needed her as she didn’t want to see her living her childhood in care.
A year after losing her mum Angel, then nine, moved in with Sarah. The headteacher, who also volunteers as an appropriate adult for the police, said: “We’d always had a good relationship. Due to what was happening with her mum, she needed more care at school than we would generally give. Helping her to organise her mum’s funeral was difficult but it continued to build our relationship.
“Quite early in her journey, I asked the social services team to come to me if there was nowhere for her to go because I didn’t want her to be a child in care forever. From my work with the police, I knew that 85 percent of young people I was supporting had been in care.
"It was not the journey I wanted her to take. There was talk of her going to live in Ghana but she was born in the UK and has lived her whole life here. She has only been to Ghana once and that was to her dad’s funeral when she was four."
In court Sarah and Angel’s case was compared to the famous Roald Dahl character Matilda by the judge. Sara said: "The judge said that I was like Miss Honey and Angel was like Matilda. He said that obviously he knew Angel had a very different background but that it was a very similar story.”
Sarah, who Angel calls auntie, encourages Angel, now 12, to keep in touch with her foster parents, her family in Ghana, and her mum’s best friend. She said: “There were lots of questions over whether it would be right as I was still her headteacher and she would be coming into school and growing up at home with me.
“She was quite excited about it. She’s bubbly, lively and hilarious. Despite all that she’s been through, she always has a smile on her face.
“Life is difficult for her. Not having a stable home environment through her early years meant that learning was not top of the agenda for her but she works really hard with her learning now. It’s nice too that I knew her mum and we can talk about her mum. She calls me Auntie. I’m single and have no children of my own so it’s just me and Angel. She has changed it all.”
After everything she has been through Angel was awarded a Joshua Ribera Achievement Award for her courage and determination. The awards were founded by Birmingham mum Alison Cope, whose son Joshua was stabbed to death outside a nightclub in 2013.
Joshua was a much-loved rap artist, Depzman, and Alison has worked to raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime among young people since his death. The next Joshua Ribera Achievement Awards are being held in Birmingham on March 5, 2023.
Alison said: "Angel understands what it means to be homeless and at the support of other people's kindness. When she was nine, Angel became part of a new family, she moved in with her headteacher, Sarah, who became her special guardian.
"Although this may seem a strange turn of events, it means Angel's family includes amazing day-to-day care from Auntie Sarah as well as ensuring her mum and dad's family and friends continue to be a key part of her life. Angel is now 12 and through the experiences she has had so far, is ready to take positive steps into the next chapter of her story."
How Angel and Auntie Sarah settled into living together
Sarah took a month off work to help Angel settle into their new family life. The pair also tried to keep the arrangement quiet at school, but it didn't take long for Angel's fellow pupils to work out she was living with the headteacher.
Thankfully the pupil’s reaction to the news was “gentle” as they knew Angel’s story and only asked her if Sarah was “strict at home”, Sarah said. Although Sarah’s work as a headteacher involves long hours the pair made it work with Angel attending the breakfast and after-school clubs.
Sarah said: “I’m lucky to have lots of lovely staff. Sometimes they’d take her home for dinner if I had a late meeting. Now she’s at high school so we’re no longer at the same school but she’s independent and manages well. I help her with her homework whilst I’m doing my work and we do everything together.”
The headteacher has made sure that they both embrace their different backgrounds. Sarah said: “I am Jewish and she is Christian. She goes to church every week with her mum’s best friend who she calls auntie.
“There she gets to experience African food and dress so it’s still very much a part of her life. Auntie often drops off nice African food packages so I don’t have to cook in the evenings and she knows I love it when she does!
“Angel learns about my Judaism and I learn about her African heritage. It’s been a terrible time for Angel but now we have become our own family, bringing in as many people as we can. She still goes to see her foster family and they have been brilliant as I’ve been able to call them and ask questions when I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never been a parent before. I was thrown into the deep end with an eight-year-old.
“Angel was overwhelmed when she received her award. It was a nice surprise for her but it also made her miss her mum and wish her mum could have been there to see her get her prize, even though she understood she wouldn’t have got the award if her mum had been there. I’m super proud of her.”
