Sonia George’s narration of the unfortunate series of events before and after the deaths of two of her five children last week while in the state’s care, reveals the callousness with which the family was treated by an arm of the government set up to care for the country’s most vulnerable citizens. Despite claiming ad nauseam to be doing the opposite, the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA), a unit of the Ministry of Social Protection, removed five children from their parents, who admittedly were living in squalor; even separating a nursing baby from her mother. The knife turned in the wound two days later when two of the children burned to death in the state-run Drop-In Centre, where they were supposed to be safe.
It is probably not correct to even use the word safe in relation to the Drop-In Centre. While the building was not old, having been reconstructed just about five years ago following a fire, in terms of its size it should not have been housing the 30-plus children who were within its walls last week Friday. That was a recipe for disaster and one that came to pass.
The paucity of state facilities to properly house vulnerable, abused and troubled children has been repeatedly commented on in this column. But in more than 20 years, no government has seen it fit to build or even plan to build a single appropriate facility. Yet platitudes about children being the future abound. Really? When the children most in need of the reassurance that they can have some kind of future are excluded and ignored?
Ms George related that she was visited last week Wednesday by two CCPA officials, who were there based on reports that her children were being neglected and that she was a victim of domestic violence. She was later asked to accompany them back to their office along with her eldest, an 11-year-old boy, who it would appear had a tendency to roam the streets. A decision was then taken to place all of the children in the state’s care.
Ms George, who fell ill on learning of the officers’ decision, later overheard one of them say that she was faking it. Despite the domestic violence report, she was not referred to any agency for assistance. Neither did the officers refer her and her husband to any organisation for help in spite of the obvious abject poverty in which they dwelt. Instead, when Ms George called the next day to enquire what she needed to do to get her children back, she was told she would need to find a job and a good home.
Ms George also stated that she was asked to visit the CCPA office on the same Friday her children died. Perhaps she would have been offered assistance then. But really she ought to have been told this on Wednesday, at the time the children were being removed. It should have been a priority to give her hope, since many uninformed parents doubt the temporariness of the state’s custody of their children. Their greatest fear is that they will lose them forever.
On Friday, following the children’s deaths, Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence, CCPA Director Ann Greene and other officials placed more priority on holding a meeting—possibly to plan what would be said to the public—than on talking to the bereaved parents. Mr Leon George, the children’s father said that at that stage they had not yet been formally informed that their children had died and did not know which of the five were still alive. The parents said that they sat waiting at the CCPA office for a long time before they were even told the officials were at a meeting.
Nor was either parent offered the courtesy of witnessing their children’s post-mortem examinations. Since the children were in the state’s care, CCPA officials were probably authorized to perform this function. However, the parents were there grieving. Surely, it would have cost nothing to make the offer.
To add insult to injury, after informing the parents that the post-mortem examinations had already been completed, Ms Greene reportedly, whilst advising them that the state would stand the cost of the funeral, notified the parents that the funeral would be held on Sunday. Again, since the children were wards of the state, it possibly was within Ms Greene’s remit to decide on the funeral. However, confronted with two sorrowing parents would it not have been more compassionate to confer with them?
The CCPA said at its press conference on Friday that all of the children affected by the fire were being counselled. But what of bereaved parents? Ms George said in an interview with this newspaper that she was told counselling would be offered. But shouldn’t this have been a priority?
To be clear, this column is by no means advocating that the CCPA should not remove children found living in squalid conditions to safety. Nor does this column believe that Ms George’s children should not have been removed. But safety does not and cannot be a tiny two-flat building already burdened with close to 30 children with just two staff. The CCPA should have been constantly and consistently lobbying the authorities for more and better facilities to carry out its work.
Finally, the callousness and carelessness with which Mr George and Ms George were treated deserves condemnation. Whatever other faults they have, they are clearly two parents who love their children and are genuinely hurt by not just the deaths of their 4-year-old and 6-year-old sons, but by the way they have been treated since. State officials mostly take umbrage at criticism and accuse the media of targeting them unjustly when their missteps are made public. Perhaps if they allowed room for a little empathy, their actions would be more appropriate.
