The Department of Social Services is still trying to locate the mother of a baby boy found in an abandoned house at the back of the Church of the Nazarene on East Street.
What happened
- Shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, a baby boy who appeared to be approximately four days old, was found wrapped in a blanket at the rear of the church.
- Construction workers found the baby boy and an anonymous caller alerted police.
What neighbors say
67-year-old Edward Fox who lived in the neighbourhood for more than 40 years, told the Nassau Guardian, “Why she want a boyfriend if she can’t take care of children?
“That don’t make any sense. And you don’t know what that child could grow up to be.”
Fox said he has never seen something like this happened in the neighbourhood.
A 52-year-old Linda Darville said, “I don’t know who would do that. I ain’t see nobody. That’s the first time they have ever dropped a baby in the area. I’ve never seen that.”
And 53-year-old Leonard Neely said, “The mothers really need to take more responsibility for their kids. This is a nice, beautiful area, nice community we living through. We don’t have them things happen through here. So, it really shocked the whole community.”
What happens to the child now that he was found
- The child becomes a ward of the state and is in the Children’s Ward at the Princess Margaret Hospital.
- The Ministry of Social Services has the legal right to make decisions for the child.
- The child can enter a children’s home at 6 weeks, where he will most likely end up.
- Adoption will not occur until a relative of the child comes forward.
Social services and police are appealing to the mother to come forward so that she receives the requisite medical care.
Free assistance is given to pregnant women through the Department of Social Services Hotlines: 322-2763 or 422-2763.