A single parent and her two children who had made the streets their home may soon have a better future following the intervention of the Minister of Human Services and the efforts of citizens.
The slightly disoriented woman, Shellon Hackett, her one-year-old baby boy and her 14-year-old son had been sleeping on the pavement at the corner of Robb and Camp Streets for the last three weeks.
The suffering of Shellone and her children came to an end yesterday when a woman who said she was the toddler’s godmother came to the city in search of the family and found them at the location aforesaid.
This reporter was a passer-by at that corner yesterday when Karen Douglas, the godmother, was talking to the mother and her children, who were untidily dressed and were sitting on cardboard on the pavement. This is also where they had been sleeping.
While Douglas was speaking to Hackett, other women joined her, several of whom said that they knew her. They all discussed the possibilities available to get the mother and the children off the street, and were particularly concerned with the younger child’s well-being. They later bought clothing for them all and ensured that they were able to take a bath.
In November 2005, Hackett gave birth to the toddler, called ‘Junior’ at the Georgetown Hospital following which they both were discharged when the child was six days old.
After their discharge, the mother in the company of several women reported to this newspaper that the baby had been stolen.
The mother, who is uncertain of her age, had told this newspaper that a woman she had met in hospital had offered to take her to her home to spend a few months. On their way there they stopped at a Chinese restaurant, and the woman had given her $1000 to buy food and a drink. When she returned, however, the woman had driven off with the baby.
Two weeks after the publication of information about Hackett’s plight, a woman had walked into the Alberttown Police Station with the baby in her arms claiming that relatives had sold the infant to a Venezuelan couple. She was reportedly travelling from the North West.
The mother was reunited with her child that night.
Since that incident Hackett took up residence with the relatives of her child’s father in Herstelling, East Bank Demerara.
Yesterday the woman told curious onlookers that she had been thrown out from her place of abode and left with no place to go, her only alternative was to live on the street.
Her elder son was living with his grandmother in Plaisance, East Coast Deme-rara, and reports are that when he heard of his mother’s plight he joined her.
Persons reported to Stabroek News that prior to taking up residence at the Camp and Robb Street corner, she had been at North and Camp Streets for about two weeks. She had also been living outside the CNS Channel 6 building on Wellington Street. This newspaper understands that during the Christ-mas season, the mother was also a guest on a popular talk show asking for help.
Hackett’s situation drew a lot of attention yesterday morning and those who surrounded her were contemplating taking her and the children to the night shelter.
However, Human Services and Social Security Minister Priya Manickchand was later contacted, and while the public-spirited citizens awaited her arrival, the woman’s older son was taken into the Stabroek News compound where he had a bath, and was given some new clothes and footwear.
Some time later Manickchand and Ann Green, Head of the Child Protection Unit and former Chief Pro-bation Officer arrived.
After speaking to Douglas an agreement was reached whereby she would take Hackett and the children for the weekend and would accompany them to the ministry tomorrow where a decision would be made about their permanent future.
At first there was some suggestion that Hackett might be separated from the children, and when she heard this she burst into tears. She did not stop crying until she was reassured that she could go with the children.
Ann Green told this newspaper that a decision had to be made in the best interest of the children, and that the current arrangement would only be a temporary one.
Between sobs Hackett was heard to say that all her other children had been taken away from her, and that now the same would happen in the case of her infant son, whom she was still breast feeding.
Manickchand assured Hackett that no one was trying to take her child away but something had to be done to get both her and the children off the streets.
After the plans had been finalized, Douglas was told that the children were not to leave her yard. Manickchand told her that if Hackett wanted to leave she was to allow her to do so, but she must not take the children with her.
