‘Never okay’

Youth Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon says a probe has been launched to determine the circumstances that led to five children remaining in the care of the Spanish Town Hospital for several months after being abandoned by their families.

Morris Dixon said leaving vulnerable minors in long-term institutional care without family affection is an administrative breakdown that can “never be seen as okay”.

“With children, we have to be especially careful, and we have to be especially responsible,” said Morris Dixon.

The minister said she requested an immediate report after learning of the situation, but was not satisfied with the initial findings.

She said Permanent Secretary Dr Kasan Troupe and the advisory board of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) have been asked to investigate the matter to strengthen child-protection procedures.

“I asked for a report on it and the answers aren’t adequate. And so it speaks again to the reason that we need to do more work in terms of firming up these procedures, so that you do not have children who are just lost in the system – and too often that does happen. And so I asked the advisory board to look into it. I asked the permanent secretary to get a report,” Morris Dixon told The Gleaner.

She said the initial report received “was not fine for me, and so we’ve been getting more information, and I have not received the final report on it”.

This follows a Gleaner report in August which noted that four of the five children abandoned at the St Catherine-based hospital had spent their entire lives at the facility.

The fifth child – a male who is one and a half years old – had been at the hospital 11 months after being discharged.

Spanish Town Hospital CEO Jacqueline Ellis said the situation was unacceptable, disclosing that the facility had to divert staff and resources to its paediatric ward to care for the children.

Hospital records show that four of the children – whose ages range from 10 months to two and a half years old – were left by their parents shortly after birth to be placed for adoption.

The other child was left there for “care and protection”.

Questions sent by The Gleaner to CPFSA about the matter on September 2 have not been answered.

Last Friday, the agency, which has direct responsibility for placing the children in state care, issued a media release indicating that it had removed the children from the hospital.

Court orders

In the questions sent, The Gleaner sought to determine, among other things, the timeline for removing the five children, why four spent their lives there, whether there were legal and bottleneck delays, what were the placement protocols, and the number of children who remained in hospitals islandwide.

In its statement, the CPFSA said it had secured the relevant court orders for the children.

It said two of the children were placed in family environments through the agency’s foster care programme, while a third, a baby with special needs, was placed at a facility equipped to care for children with similar needs. The other two babies remain under the direct supervision of the state at a CPFSA nursery while their cases are before the court, the agency said.

CPFSA CEO Laurette Adams Thomas said each of the five cases had unique variables that led to a delay in placement.

She admitted that while no law mandates a strict timeframe for how long a child can remain in a hospital, which legally functions as a place of safety, the children were left in institutional care longer than desired.

“There is no single factor related to the delay in placement that is applicable to all five cases. Placement decisions are influenced by the availability of appropriate spaces for the needs of the child, especially those with medical and other special needs; the availability of foster families who are able to meet the individual needs of a child; and case-specific legal or family circumstances, including family tracing,” the statement quoted her as saying.

She noted that the agency is actively pursuing both family and residential placements, while appealing to Jamaicans with the necessary resources to step forward as foster parents.

At the same time, Morris Dixon said the matter raises issues in relation to procedures.

“We have to always have at centre the welfare, the best interest of the child; and leaving them in a hospital where they’re not being held, not being hugged, not being able to get attached to someone who loves them, is not the best position for them,” she said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com

Questions sent to CPFSA on September 2

1. What is the immediate operational timeline for transitioning the five abandoned children currently living on the pediatric ward at Spanish Town Hospital into appropriate state care or family settings?

2. Given that standard protocol requires CPFSA to place abandoned infants within approximately six weeks, why have four of these children spent their entire lives living inside the hospital?

3. Has the agency secured care and protection orders through the Family Court for all five children, and if not, what specific administrative or legal bottlenecks are stalling the court proceedings?

4. Is the primary delay in removing these children caused by a critical lack of beds in CPFSA places of safety, a shortage of registered foster parents, or delays in processing adoption paperwork?

5. What formal inter-agency communication protocol exists between Spanish Town Hospital social workers and the CPFSA to ensure immediate notification and fast-tracked removal when a child is deserted?

6. Because Spanish Town Hospital is currently funding diapers, wipes, and meals out of its healthcare budget, does the CPFSA provide any direct financial or material subvention to public hospitals caring for state wards?

7. How frequently do CPFSA officers conduct on-site visits to public health facilities across the island to audit active social cases involving minors?

8. Has the CPFSA or law enforcement successfully located and interviewed the parents or extended families of these five children to establish legal accountability or explore family reunification?

9. What specific legislative reforms or policy amendments is the CPFSA recommending to Parliament to shorten the legal timeline required to transition abandoned hospital infants into state care or adoption?

10. How many children in total, that CPFSA is aware of, are currently stranded in public health facilities islandwide awaiting placement?