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Youth pleads to get out of rehab
February 29, 2008
Latchmin “Charlene” Scott
A 16-year-old girl, who was
forcibly sent to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica for rehabilitation, has
made a “heart-wrenching” plea to her mother to remove her from the
youth facility.
A letter, which was given to Cayman
Net News by the minor’s mother, Latchmin “Charlene” Scott, is dated
27 January and was given to Mrs Scott by her daughter’s former
Social Worker, Carol Robinson, during the week beginning 17
February.
“I really need you at this time;
please I am begging you to get me out of here. Please it was bad
enough in girls home but now it’s worse,” writes the minor.
The issue was first reported in
this publication earlier this month after the juvenile was allegedly
swiftly moved from the Frances Bodden Girls Home in Grand Cayman to
Tranquility Bay without the family’s approval.
The young person’s aunt, Jan Scott
of Cayman Brac, expressed concerns over possible violations of her
niece’s human rights and said the minor was not properly assessed
before being dispatched to Jamaica for rehabilitation.
Jan Scott also stated that she felt
the decision and handling of the matter was unjust and may worsen
her niece’s condition.
Latchmin Scott is very concerned
with the way in which her daughter has been treated by the
authorities. “She needed help but it could have happened in a
different way,” she said.
The mother explained that her
daughter, who went to the Frances Bodden Girls Home in September
2007 after being made a ward of the court, was not happy at that
facility. According to Latchmin Scott, her daughter’s
dissatisfaction was not helped by the Department of Children and
Family Services’ decision to prevent her from visiting or
maintaining contact with her mother.
Latchmin Scott said that she had
always sought to maintain communication with her daughter, an issue
that is now exacerbated by her removal to Tranquility Bay.
She believes that Ms Robinson, who
was the social worker in the case prior to the minor’s removal to
Tranquility Bay, misled her about the action that would be taken by
the Department of Children and Family Services following a third
suicide attempt by her daughter.
Rather than sending the teenager to
the Jamaican facility, “she (Ms Robinson) told me the judge was
re-considering the decision to go to Tranquility Bay,” and would
withdraw the order pending further investigations, said Latchmin
Scott.
However, Latchmin Scott later found
out that her daughter was sent to the facility in Jamaica the very
day she and Ms Robinson had that conversation.
In her letter, the minor describes
how she feels about being at the rehabilitation centre. “I am so
depressed and frustrated; this place is much worse than you think
and heard.”
She continues, “Yesterday a
supervisor came and told me that the court order was for two years
but Mommy … I know I won’t last here two months or more!”
Speaking of her future, the
teenager states, “But my future has pure grey clouds and overcast
skies from my point of view. Me coming here made my intentions of
becoming a lawyer or something in life (go) down the drain.”
“Mom, you know me inside out and
when I tell you that I’m not happy and comfortable you know what I
mean, how I feel and what I’m capable of doing.”
While Latchmin Scott was pleased to
hear from her daughter, she was equally upset by its content and
felt that the system had failed her daughter.
Ms Robinson was asked to comment on
the case. She said it was no longer on her caseload and that queries
should be directed to Deanna Lookoy, Director of Children and Family
Services.
Efforts to get comments from Mrs
Lookloy by email and telephone before press deadline were
unsuccessful.
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