Woman trying to keep granddaughter out of State care

A 55-year-old grandmother, who has spent years raising her granddaughter after her son was shot and killed, is now wondering if she should place the child in a home because she believes she can no longer keep her safe.

The grandmother, who has been the child’s primary caregiver for several years, said the youngster recently ran away from her mother and has been difficult to account for, leaving her worried about the dangers she could face when she leaves home.

“The child and the mother nuh inna no good relationship. Mi have her from she was in grade three because the mother had the little girl a yard and not even did a send her go a school,” she recalled. “I had to fight to get her back in school and you can ask any of her teachers that.”

The grandmother said the child was later placed in a State home for a period.

“But mi get her back from the home and put her in a different primary school until she graduated,” she said. “When she a graduate, the mother not even know seh the pickney a graduate. My children and my husband help me because mi haffi work hard fi school her.”

Now that the child has entered high school, the grandmother said the financial and emotional demands have become even greater, while the mother remains largely absent.

“The mother still nuh know how she eat, if she go school or wear clothes,” she said. The latest ordeal began last Thursday when the grandmother sent the child to school before going to work. But she later saw a missed call from her daughter’s partner who told her that the child was with her mother.

“When mi go home in the night mi call him and tell him she need fi wash her blouse and socks fi go school the Friday,” the grandmother said.

After 9 p.m., however, the child borrowed a phone and called her grandmother, telling her that her mother was not going to send her to school the following day.

“How she cry over the phone, but mi never know exactly why she a cry,” the grandmother said. “Mi tell her to ask the man to talk to the mother to send her to school and she say she ago try. Mi nuh hear back nothing.”

The grandmother became even more concerned the following day.

“Friday evening the mother call me a ask if the child reach and me confused because mi nuh see the child,” she told THE STAR. “We had a counselling meeting to go [to] and me deh a the meeting and mi nuh see the child.”

By Saturday morning, there was still no sign of the youngster.

“Mi a get fi understand that the mother do her something and that woulda make the child run. The child run from her not from me,” the grandmother said.

She said she has also been told that the child was at a place where she received counselling.

“Mi just a hear from her. Mi ago pick her up from the place where she get counselling. She had an appointment and she found herself there,” she said.

The distressed woman said she cannot continue allowing the situation to unfold without taking action to protect the child.

“Running away from her mother and not coming home means she a put herself in danger and mi can’t mek she a do that. It better she deh one place that’s safe for her.”

The grandmother said she has tried to fill the roles of mother, father and grandmother which is a strain on her. But despite that, she said her decision-making is being driven by one thing.

“Mi love her and mi want the best for her. She have her whole life ahead of her,” she said. “Mi a 55 years old and mi still a work because mi want support her. Sometime mi can’t go but mi still haffi force and go fi be able fi provide fi her.”

Sadly, with the latest incident, she said she is now being forced to consider whether seeking State intervention may ultimately be safer for the child.