Pregnant in State care

BEFORE her sister died she expressed one wish for her daughter — that she would not become a teen mother. Her loving sibling says she tried desperately to honour that wish, eventually placing her niece in State care when she became increasingly difficult to manage at home, only to later learn that the 16-year-old had become pregnant while at Maxfield Park Children’s Home. Heartbroken, she now feels as though she has failed both her sister and her niece.

However, she said her pain has been compounded by her anger over not being provided with timely updates on matters related to her now-pregnant niece. According to her, she was told that the teen had “consensual sex” with another ward of the State while residing at the Corporate Area children’s home. However, the teen was already about six weeks pregnant when her aunt was told of the pregnancy in July.

The aunt told the Jamaica Observer that a few days before she was formally notified by a representative, her niece had sent her a message saying that she had something to tell her, but never revealed what that was. She suspects that the teen may have intended to tell her that she was pregnant, which has led her to question whether staff at the facility were aware of the pregnancy but failed to immediately inform her. Shortly after learning about her niece’s pregnancy, the aunt said she went to the children’s home hoping to see the 16-year-old, only to be told that the teenager had been transferred to another facility.

While she admitted to previously being informed that a transfer was pending since Maxfield Park was not equipped for pregnant teens, she said she was not told when it would be actioned or the new location to which the teen would be moved. On a separate occasion, she learned that her niece had been arrested for allegedly assaulting an individual at a children’s home in Montego Bay, St James. However, this news did not come from the teenager’s caseworker, but from the police who called to make contact with the family.

In fact, the aunt said much of what she knows about her niece’s whereabouts and well-being has come through the grapevine from friends and contacts within various agencies, who have tried to help her piece together what has been happening with the child in State care. The aunt said the experience has been both heartbreaking and infuriating. She described the lack of communication from …