Child protection, TIP victim at odds over care of infant

The woman (left) and her GWMO case worker Amanda Peters.

The care of a seven-month-old baby is now at the centre of a dispute between a young mother and the Child Care & Protection Agency (CC&PA), which she is accusing of seeking to take the child away from her.

The 21-year-old mother, who was a victim of human trafficking, admits that she does not have a fixed residence, no job and the father of the child does not support his son. “I love my son, I can’t live without him. I willing to work and mind he but I just need some assistance,” the woman said, close to tears in a recent interview with the Sunday Stabroek.

The woman, who is staying at a friend, is accusing officials of the CC&PA of threatening to deprive of her son for nine months until she finds a job and a house.

“They tell me that dem guh tek he fuh six months and that I can’t see he when I want. Is like once a month or so, but I can’t do it. If coulda see he like once a week or so I woulda try but it hard,” the frustrated woman said.

She has since turned to the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO)-the organisation that rescued her from the Puruni backdam