A Jamaican man is fighting to gain custody of an abandoned infant he found stuffed in a shopping bag and left on a fence.
The local children’s hospital admitted the child for evaluation and care, however, informed the man he would not be able to take the little girl home because authorities needed to investigate her abandonment.
Kingston contractor Oshane Briscoe says he wants officials to see how serious he is about parenting the child, showing up to the hospital as much as he can. However, despite his visits, he is not allowed to see the girl because he is not a biological parent.
No one knows who her biological parents are.
Briscoe and a female friend discovered the little girl he calls “Baby Sunshine” on Wednesday, May 3, near his home in Vineyard Town, St. Andrew, Kingston, according to the Jamaica Gleaner.
The father of two said the baby was covered in blood and swarmed by ants that bit her all over her face and arms but was otherwise “strong.”
After discovering the newborn and noticing she still had her umbilical cord attached to her body and other fluids like blood and afterbirth, he swiftly took her to the Victoria Jubilee Hospital.
While the hospital did not admit the child, it did clean her up before instructing Briscoe to transport her to the Bustamante Hospital for Children.
Once he took the baby to Bustamante, officials received the baby but cut Briscoe off from seeing her. Reports say it was against policy until authorities can sort out who her parents are if she should go into the foster system, or if she will be placed up for adoption.
Dr. Sandra Chambers, the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) regional technical director explained the process hospitals and officials must follow in the case of abandoned children.
“The established protocol is to stabilize the patient; inform social worker, police, and Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA),” Chambers said. “It is a case of abandonment under investigation and protocol dictates that contact be limited until the case has been properly investigated.”
“Hospital protocol dictates that only parents are allowed to visit children and this is still under investigation. The baby is now a ward of the hospital and only persons from CPFSA and the police are authorized to visit,” she added.
The SERHA would later say Victoria Jubilee Hospital was mistaken in not taking custody of the baby when Briscoe presented her there.
In a video interview, Briscoe said he is already attached to the baby and wants to be considered as her guardian. It would make his family complete. While he wants to adopt the young girl, Briscoe says there are others in his village also considering stepping up for Baby Sunshine’s care.
He said his sister and another female friend were interested, but both are mothers to daughters already.
That is not a deterrent for Briscoe.
“I don’t got any daughter. I got two sons. My older son lives in the States,” he said adding, having a little girl would be a blessing, “Maybe, it’s God sent her to me.”
He also said, “As much as I got my two responsibilities, I would like to have her. God will provide.”
Briscoe says has not seen the baby because of policy but has brought diapers up for her care. The gifts were also not received. That too is against policy.
“We can only accept general donations that will be utilized for general patient care and not this specific child,” Chambers said. “This case is still under investigation. There are clear, strict protocols that govern what you can and cannot do at the hospital.”
Still, Briscoe is not discouraged and is keeping hope alive regarding the baby. He hopes he will be given to him, even if it is only to be a foster parent for a while.
He says Baby Sunshine is a “nice, quiet” baby with a strong future ahead of her.
The dad says this with confidence, drawing attention to her sturdy disposition during her lowest point.
He noticed the baby was being bitten by the ants, but she didn’t seem agitated. Briscoe believed it was as if she got used to the bites.
Baby girls, research shows, are born with a “fundamental genetic advantage.”
“Females carry two copies of the X chromosome, while males carry an X and Y chromosome. As the X chromosome contains more of the genes involved in fighting disease, women are biologically more likely to be able to fight acute infections,” a study by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland says.
Higher rates of “disease-fighting protein” were found in the samples for newborn girls,” research shows.
Professor Catherine Greene, the senior author of the research, was clear, “The phenomenon of female neonates being hardier than their male counterparts is well recognized.”
Briscoe wants to see all the ways Baby Sunshine might be different from the sons he raised, saying he is researching the steps and gathering the appropriate documents he needs to take to adopt her. Whatever obstacle might come before him, he said he is ready to face them to gain custody.
As for now, the baby remains at Bustamante and has become a ward of the state. Her health, according to the SERHA, is in good condition.
Superintendent of Police Tommie-Lee Chambers, Head of the Kingston East Division, says there still are no leads pointing to Baby Sunshine’s parents or other relatives. The investigation remains active.
