Five children were removed from a home at Golden Fleece, West Coast Berbice yesterday after the Child Care & Protection Agency (CCPA) received information that they were being neglected.
The children whose ages range from two months to nine years old were reportedly in unkempt conditions and the baby girl appeared undernourished.
Reports are that their 32-year-old mother was in the habit of leaving the children alone in the day and sometimes at nights and neighbours would provide them with food.
According to sources, the woman’s 65-year-old reputed husband who works as a watchman would take the children with him. He puts them to sleep on a sponge.
The mother has told officers from the CCPA that she sometimes goes to church for “all night prayers” in another village. But yet she denied neglecting the children.
She said, too, that her partner works for just $15,000 per month and she is forced to “hustle.” She goes to the backdam to “strip brooms” from coconut branches and would also pick up coconuts to sell.
Sources said the woman is living in extreme poverty and is in no position to care for the children. In fact, when some of the regional staff asked if they could take care of two of the children she willingly agreed.
