THIS is yet another appeal for the child welfare authorities to be more vigilant and to help Ms Ranita Persaud, a Guyanese national living in the British Virgin Islands whose two-year-old child was kidnapped by her child’s father while holidaying with her mother in Cane Grove and to demonstrate some serious, interest in the circumstances of the mother and child who are both grieving at the moment. I was told by Ms Ranita Persaud that she has made several complaints to the police at Cane Grove and Mahaica on the East Coast of Demerara without any success or intervention by the police and she has become very frustrated with the Child Protection Agency.
She has also reported this matter to the British Virgin Islands consulate-since the child was born in the BVI-without any further success. Editor, she is afraid that if the police and the Child Protection Agency(CPA) do not act urgently she may lose her baby, because she is breastfeeding and may die without proper care and attention. Thus, the mother of this child is more likely to be shown more love and tenderness, which undoubtedly will contribute towards reducing any harm done to her.
Even if the child is not given a love that is selfless, responsible and protective, nevertheless physical closeness, caresses and affection can arouse feelings in her-feelings such as longing, pain, loneliness, anger and outrage when she becomes an adult.  I am wondering if it is customary for the police and the CPA of this country to allow such a serious matter to go unnoticed .Editor, according to Ms Ranita Persaud, the matter was reported to Ms Ann Greene at the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security Welfare Department.
Child kidnapping from a mother is perhaps the most cruel and most baffling of human experiences. It is a betrayal of the most basic trust between the police and the CPA. It is emotionally devastating. The young mother is totally dependent on guidance and help from the police and the CPA; protectors become persecutors, and reality becomes a prison of dirty secrets. Child kidnapping betrays the very heart of childhood –it’s innocent.
Essentially, we have indigent welfare services of questionable psychological wellness being allowed to “nurture” these kidnappers. Being economically disadvantaged, the parents/guardian might evoke these things, but it is the child protection agency’s duty to help this mother with any modicum of dignity.
Why then is the state ostensibly reluctant to intervene on behalf of Ranita Persaud before it’s too late?  Or could it be that child welfare subscribes to the flawed view that love and care are corollaries of the birthing process?  And if child welfare is aware of this, why is there no effort to provide an environment more amenable to the development of the well-being of this mother who is being taken advantage of?
While these authorities are in their state of suspended consciousness, this mother is subjected to grief and trauma by people with power and money and go scot free, while everyone remains silent. They do not know what it means to simply experience childhood and it reminds me of the triple murder at Anna Catherina on the West Coast of Demerara, and so many more innocent children who were brutally murdered as most average Guyanese children do, because unfortunately for them, they were born not just into abject poverty, but also into an environment of psychological maladjustment.