THIS little girl may be homeless or separated from her mother on her fourth birthday.

Tallulah-Blue Pettersell and her mother Samantha Richards have been left without anywhere to live and as her birthday approaches, the family are terrified the youngster will be heartbroken on her special day.

Ms Richards, 27, who has lived in Brighton most of her life, had been placed in accommodation in Peacehaven by the city council.

But after being forced to move she said the council could no longer find any suitable emergency accommodation for the pair – leaving the single mother fearing she may be living on the streets and parted from her daughter on her birthday in three weeks’ time.

Ms Richards said the only property Brighton and Hove City Council could offer her was in Newhaven but when she had tried to move in the landlord had told them it was not suitable for a child as it was only a single room.

Now they are staying with friends and family, not knowing where they will spend the next night.

With nowhere to live, Ms Richards said social services have suggested she should give parental care of Tallulah-Blue to her father, meaning mother and child are separated.

Ms Richards said: “For the last five days we have been homeless.

“I have been calling round everywhere trying to get some help.

“I am really worried about where we are going to be for Tallulah-Blue’s birthday.

“Her grandmother wanted to organise a party but I cant even think about that because we don’t even know where we’ll be living.

“She keeps crying and saying ‘we don’t have anywhere to live’.

“She says ‘mummy I’m really tired but where am I going to sleep?’

“It’s heartbreaking.

“I just want us to have somewhere to live and now social services are saying she might have to go into care or live with her dad.

“She is old enough to understand some of what’s going on.

“I said to her ‘you might have to go and live with daddy’ and she burst into tears.

“Not because she doesn’t love her dad just as much, but because she usually lives with me and it’s not right for a child that small to be separated from their mum.”

Ms Richards said that despite living in Brighton since the age of 14, her mother living in Whitehawk and most of her family living in the area, the city council was now suggesting she might not have a “local link” to the city, having been previously placed outside the city boundaries.

The city council said it always offered suitable accommodation where it had a legal duty to do so.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: “We are not able to provide information on specific cases.

“In general terms, we always offer suitable accommodation to people where we have a legal duty to do so.

“If people choose to voluntarily leave, or get evicted from, the accommodation we arrange for them, this brings our legal duty to an end.

“In such circumstances it would be up to individuals concerned as to whether they choose to apply to other local authorities for accommodation. This is not something we would do for them.”