Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:00 by GxMedia
The Director of Guyana’s Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA), Ann Greene on Wednesday said the five-day old baby was rescued from a cash-strapped American woman in the “nick of time” or he would have died.
“We really needed to rescue the baby. If we had left the baby with her, the baby would have died,” Greene told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com).
A United States State Department official on Wednesday said the American embassy in Georgetown was working to resolve the plight of 37-year old Dellicia Sherrell Honore.
Greene was loud in praise for the work done by the CCPA in locating the woman and her dehydrated infant from a city hotel. “The staff worked real hard in rescuing this baby.”
The CCPA official said that given the mental condition of Honore, it was difficult to work with her. “The mother has some mental deficiencies so what needed to do is to help the mother and baby but because of her condition, she resisted all our efforts,” Greene told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com).
The CCPA, she said, was continuing to work with the United States embassy to return the child to her mother and have those leave for American soil.
The State Department official said “We are aware of reports from Guyana concerning a U.S. citizen. Consular personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Guyana are providing all appropriate consular assistance in this case. Privacy considerations prevent us from discussing the specifics.” The official noted that generally, when a U.S. citizen is injured or becomes seriously ill while abroad, the embassy or consulate will do all it can to assist the individual to obtain appropriate medical care.
Greene said that while her agency promoted family-based care, sometimes children have to be separate in their best interest.
She said the woman refused to be taken to a shelter and instead opted to stay at hotels.
The woman was seen outside the Georgetown Hospital late Tuesday night expressing grave concern about the safety and well-being of her child.
DemWaves was told that the woman has chalked up unpaid bills at a number of hotels since she arrived here in September. She acknowledged that she has exhausted her funds and was trying desperately to access additional cash from someone overseas.
Honore, who claimed that she left Guyana when she was four years old, said she went into labour at Springlands and was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where she gave birth.
The woman did not give specific information about who she knew in Guyana and where her relatives could be located in the US. She could not provide details about her reason for visiting Guyana though at one point she said she has re-migrated. Documents, however, show that she was born in Louisiana, United States.
A well-wisher arranged for her to be accommodated safely at a city hotel for Tuesday night. Concerns are, however, being raised that the woman has allegedly not paid bills at a number of hotels since landing here.
Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) was told that the woman arrived here on September 26,2013. Records show that prior to coming here, she landed on The Bahamas on January 15, 2013 and an extension of stay was refused on February 4, 2013 without prejudice.
