Attorneys write Children’s Authority

The teenager was found hanging at the home at Ashland Avenue, Valsayn, on June 18. In a statement, the Children’s Authority said despite consistent support and counselling, some of the children who are received into care are often troubled because they have undergone significant trauma.

The authority also promised counselling for the other residents and staff at the home. Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Stuart Young, in the Senate on June 20, said Government was awaiting a report on the death of the teenager.

In a letter sent on Tuesday, Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, Jayanti Lutchmedial, Ganesh Saroop and Alvin Pariagsingh wrote to the Authority’s director Safiya Noel seeking information they had on the teenager, including correspondence, medical assessments, as well as his journal, among other pieces of information.

Their request for information was made in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) application.

According to the attorneys, the journal the teenager kept outlined his educational aspirations, spoke of the ‘prison-like conditions’ at the home and even drew a coffin.

The letter also noted that in August 2016, after the teenager was taken into the custody of the Authority, arrangements were made for the teen to be placed at the Rainbow Rescue Home for the boys and he was enrolled at the Belmont Secondary school.

Sometime later, the teenager was referred back to the Authority and while there arrangements were also made for him to return to his mother’s home from time to time. He was then transferred to Credo House and stayed there for three weeks after which he was placed in the home in Valsayn, until he hanged himself in the bathroom of the facility.