Meet The Founder
Aliyah Ali grew up in a very complex family dynamic. Born child of an adopted mother and immigrant father, Aliyah was raised with what she would consider no nuture.
Domestic violence was something Aliyah saw often in her home, as her mother suffered from multiple mental illnesses and as result of many factors combined, she became a looked after child during her adolescence.
When Aliyah was placed in care, she lived in residential children's homes for a couple of years and evidently found herself being groomed into a lifestyle of gangs and crime. By 17 years old, Aliyah was living in B and B's across South London and was eventually sentenced to a 4 year custodial sentence by the age of 18.
Whilst in custody, Aliyah found her passion for girls being groomed and exploited. She crossed paths with many girls from across the country who had been unheard and overlooked during the most vulnerable parts of their lives. Aliyah quickly realised she wasn't alone and could reach and engage these girls like no other. Aliyah began her journey of self discovery whilst in HMP Drake Hall and found an abundance worth of drive to recommit to education and work on the recreation of herself in order to fulfil her mission.
Upon her release, she worked hard to reform herself and began to work with care leavers and service providers to support the development of their services and delivery outcomes. She did this by sharing her valued lessons across England, facilitating thought provoking discussions, training and workshops. Aliyah then went on to work in residential care and semi independent placements working with young people. This part of her journey sparked a keen interest in supporting and inspiring professionals to be the best versions of themselves whilst working with the countries most hard to reach youth.
Aliyah has layers of lived expert experience. She is passionate about Residential placements for looked after children, care leaver support and services, youth justice, girls, gangs and grooming, safeguarding and being a stand up professional who can relate and translate to young people and the people they work with in order to bridge the gap. She is a solution focussed individual who values structure and systems.
Aliyah holds training and qualifications in the following areas:
MAYBO - Disengagement & Assault Avoidance; Holdings for Children’s Settings
Trauma Informed Approaches
Domestic & Sexual Violence Intervention
Suicide & Self-Harm Intervention
Child Sexual Exploitation Intervention
Developing Youth Practice
Motivational Interviewing
Therapeutic approaches to working with young people
Safeguarding Children
Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults
Particularly, over the past two years, Aliyah has shown upmost commitment to championing the rights of young people in care and those leaving care. She has facilitated training to social work professionals and social work students with the objective of bringing to life the genuine experiences of young people. Her emotive words and genuine convictions has, thus far, encouraged conversations amongst social work professionals and has inspired services to explore and revaluate how services are delivered to children and young people. Aliyah’s presence has empowered young people to stand up, self-advocate and be counted. Aliyah’s continuous involvement has ensured that the voice of the child remains the centre of all work the local authority does; whilst ensuring their words are heard and never forgotten. Aliyah continues to advocate on behalf of all those who are vulnerable with the intent of influencing positive change, reshaping services and improving the outcomes of young people in care and leaving care. Aliyah is most certainly a pioneer and has evidently left her positive mark within the service.
- Southwark’s Children’s Rights Service, Dechaun Malcolm
Follow us on:
© 2017 by Daddyless Daughters Proudly created by THE DADDYLESS DAUGHTERS PROJECT CIC