Abandoned baby soon to be given an identity

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Officials in the Ministry of Social Transformation have taken steps to secure an identity for a recently abandoned baby.

Consequently, they have filed documents in the court to assist in legally identifying the child.

In late March, residents of Grays Hill were alerted to the presence of a baby boy by noises similar to that made by a cat. They were startled to discover Baby John Doe in a box on a stranger’s doorstep.

Social Transformation Minister Samantha Marshall told OBSERVER media that the ministry filed the necessary paperwork in the court recently to declare a name and date of birth for the child.

“The baby’s actual date of birth, except for a note, is really not known and there is no name for the baby, and so we can’t have the baby going around named as ‘John Doe.’ So, what we have done is engaged an attorney who has already filed before the court documents to assist us in having the court declare a date of birth and allow us to name the child so that when we place the child in a foster home the child has a more specific identity,” Marshall explained.

Minister Marshall also said that the ministry is still in the process of vetting applications of potential foster parents who are desirous of caring for the infant.

For the time being, Baby John Doe, remains in the care of health workers at the Mount St. John’s Medical Centre.

“He is still receiving care at the hospital. We believe that is the best place. We don’t think it’s going to be long before the court will hear the application. It should be a matter of a few weeks and after that then we will speak with the doctors to see how soon the child can be released. But as far as I am aware, he is doing very well,” the constituency representative for St. Mary’s South said.

The child was discovered wearing only a baby top and the lower part of his body wrapped in plastic.

He was inside a box that also contained a note reportedly stating: “Take my baby and take care of him. Born 21st March 2019.”

According to that note, the child would be about ten weeks old today.

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