Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Abandoned children still in state care
The abandoned children
The four children who were removed from their Guyhoc Park, Tucville Georgetown home by the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) almost two weeks ago is still in state care.
This is according to a senior official of the Agency who would only say that the children’s situation is still being investigated.
On January 06, workers from the CCPA were called to intervene in a situation in Guyhoc Park to ensure that four children, who were neglected, receive adequate care. The children are aged 12, eight, three and one.
A neighbour had called and informed this publication about the four children, who were left alone in a rat-infested house with no food, to fend for themselves.
The children had reportedly been left alone for more than a week by their mother, who according to neighbours, said she was going into the interior “to look for it.”
The woman allegedly told her neighbours that she would be returning for the Mashramani holiday in February.
When Kaieteur News visited the children two Tuesdays ago, at approximately 11:00 hrs, the one-year-old girl was seen running around in a urine-soaked one-piece outfit. Her older siblings, who were not properly dressed, were sitting quietly in a corner, watching the toddler.
None of the children had had a meal as yet.
Neighbours said that the 12-year-old girl was left in charge of her siblings. She was responsible for preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner, if groceries were available. She was also tasked with washing clothes and doing other chores.
Due to her busy schedule and lack of resources, the girl could not attend school or send her two other school-aged siblings to a learning institution.
A tour of the modest premises by this newspaper revealed rats running everywhere. The house had no electricity and at nights, the children slept alone in the dark on an old mattress with no covering and no mosquito net. The children reportedly survived on whatever little food was given to them by neighbours, sometimes days prior.
This same stale food was fed to the baby, who according to neighbours should still be using porridge.
“We are so sorry for these children. They did not ask for this, they are only children. If we don’t give them food, they wouldn’t eat,” one neighbour said.
The woman added that the two older girls share one father while the other two share another.
“Their fathers don’t take care of them. The two men want nothing to do with them. When the Ministry gave that $10,000, the two big girls’ father collected their money and he disappeared. Those children got nothing out of that money,” another angry neighbour said.
A few Guyhoc Park residents patiently waited for more than two hours to provide the CCPA and this newspaper with details pertaining to the children’s situation.
One visually upset woman said, “Their mother knows that we give them food, so she leave and gone. Even when she was here, we had to give them food, and we are worried about those children. The older girl is getting big, and people might want to abuse her.”
The woman continued, “When her mother is here, she brings a lot of men to the house and there are some men who would come to your house and eye-up your girl children.”
Neighbours had praised the agency for its timely intervention.
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