IN LATE December 2008, 19-year-old Nicolette Ledford was detained under the Child Care and Protection Act after she allegedly abandoned her physically challenged daughter in an old animal shelter off Spanish Town Road in Kingston.
Perhaps not as widely reported as other cases involving normal children, those with special needs (physical and mentally disabled) are just as likely to be abandoned.
Condemning this and other forms of child neglect, Children's Advocate Mary Clarke notes that government agencies, including the Office of the Children's Advocate, is working to make more parents aware of where they can get help.
no evidence
Stating, "There is no evidence that parents are abandoning children with disabilities in droves," she adds that "at times, children who are abandoned have challenges, be it mental, physical, or emotional. Others are normal, but their parents cannot or may not be willing to cope."
According to Clarke, the challenges include the following:
These children require more time and parents have to juggle work for survival and spending time with their children.
There are limited support services, especially in rural areas, including day-care facilities. And some day- care centres do not take children with disabilities, especially those with severe or multiple disabilities.
The cost of care and medication is also a problem as children may have to take ongoing medication, some of which is not covered under the National Health Fund.
The cost of aids such as wheelchairs is high. Transportation is also a challenge.
Mary Clarke also notes that these parents suffer from ridicule and lack of understanding from members of the society. Another burden, she notes, is that "many of the parents are single and some of the children require long-term care. Their condition may even get worst with age.
"Emotionally, there are community myths which cause parents to feel guilty and believe it is their fault (that the child is challenged). For example, it is felt that if you look at a duppy or drink from a coconut the child could be born dumb; and if you step over a rope, your child will be born with severe disability," Clarke says.
Disabled children are sometimes abandoned at the hospital where they are born. In other cases, parents keep the child hidden from public view.
Some common disabilities are cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, mental retardation and Down's syndrome. Experts say that children with deafness, blindness and polio can be educated and employed.
Help is available from the Ministry of Health, the Child Development Agency, PATH and the Jamaica Foundation for Children.