Twenty-five days later… CCPA still to make contact with mother who abandoned children

Jan 31, 2015 News

The four children who were left alone

The Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) is desperately trying to make contact with the woman, who reportedly left her four children to fend for themselves in a house at Guyhoc Park, Tucville, early this month.

The four children aged 12, eight, three and one are currently being cared for by the Agency.
They were removed from the house by workers from CCPA on January 06, last when neighbours intervened to ensure that the children, who were neglected, receive adequate care.

Yesterday, a senior official from the CCPA, in an interview with this newspaper, said that the matter is being dealt with by both the police and the agency.

The official added that they are looking for the mother of the four children to proceed with their investigation.

“We don’t want her to be scared and not show up. We just want to work with her. The children are asking questions, they want to know why their mother didn’t show up after seeing so many articles in the newspaper,” the official said.

Kaieteur News was told that the siblings are separated because of their age.

“The two older girls were placed in one facility while the smaller two are in another. They are going to school. They got new uniforms and they are doing very good,” the CCPA source said.

The children had reportedly been left alone for more than a week in a rat-infested house 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 around 11:00 hrs on January 06, none of them 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.
Investigations are ongoing.