WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – A woman’s visit to a hospital with her child late last month turned into a nightmare for the mother when she was stripped of custody of her 22-month-old daughter, who is now in the care of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) in Westmoreland.

The mother, 25-year-old Derone Houston broke down in tears in an interview with OBSERVER ONLINE on Wednesday afternoon, as she recounted the ordeal.

Houston said her daughter, Fileesia Burke was bitten by a centipede on the night of September 21, at their Rose Street home in Savanna-La-Mar, Westmoreland.

“Mi see a forty leg on the bed and kill it, and in the morning mi see the swelling on my baby’s neck,” the distraught mother of two explained.

Houston said she hurriedly took the baby to the Savanna-La-Mar clinic for treatment, and later got a referral to the Savanna-La-Mar Public General Hospital, in the parish.

“I (went to) the hospital with the referral from the clinic, that same day, and I was told my baby is not an emergency case,” the mother told OBSERVER ONLINE.

She further noted that she sat restlessly for hours, crying out for help but to no avail. After her cries continued to fall on deaf ears, she said, she opted to leave the hospital with her baby at approximately 3 am on Friday, September 23, to seek private care for the child.

“I got fed-up, I was crying asking them to help my daughter and she was crying in my arms, but no one came to my rescue!

Two hours later, she said, she got a call from a doctor at the hospital, who told her to return with the baby or else the police would be sent to her home.

Houston said she still took the baby to a private doctor for treatment, but he too referred her to the hospital and told her she could return when the baby needed dressing.

The mother said she complied and took the baby back to the hospital, where she was sent to the Accident and Emergency (A &E) department.

“I spent over five days in A & E, where I had to sit in the wheelchair for four days and a when mi get loud, dem give we a bed,” the mother recalled.

Upon being admitted to the Pediatric ward, the baby was treated and her swelling subsided and it started to heal, the mother said.

Houston said baby Fileesia was discharged from the hospital last week Saturday. The mother said she was relieved and overjoyed at the thought that she would finally get to take her baby home.

However, the mother instead received the shocking news that the 22-month-old was referred into the CPFSA’S care, and will not be sent home. Devastated upon hearing the news, Houston said she grabbed her baby and kept asking for answers. She needed to know why.

“I am so devastated, I can’t sleep,” the woman said as she wept.

Houston said the situation has taken a mental toll on her family, especially her four-year-old daughter Destiny who, she said, keeps asking for her little sister.

The mother said she and her spouse were forced out the hospital one day by police, upon asking for answers.

She said she was later informed that the doctor who attended to her baby had written that the baby was bitten some three weeks ago.

“I am a good mother, I was a farmer in Portland and I don’t know why they are withholding my baby,” the woman complained, adding that she would like Prime Minister Andrew Holness to intervene.

It’s been the longest 23 days for the prospective BPO worker, who said she has been at a loss financially as she was recently hired by a call centre, but has had to put her start date on hold because of the situation.

A visit was made to her Rose Street home this week by representatives of the CPFSA and she is just hoping and praying that she will be united with her child soon.

Houston said she was told Wednesday by a CPFSA representative that the case is with the hospital and that she will have to attend family court before she gets custody of her daughter. She was also told to bring both of her daughter’s passbooks for proof of medical care.

When OBSERVER ONLINE contacted Public Relations and Communications Manager for the CPFSA, Kristen Laing, on Tuesday afternoon, we were told to send an email detailing the nature of the incident.

In a written response to OBSERVER ONLINE, Laing said she is looking into the issue and will provide a response.

Up until the release of this publication, a response on the issue was not forthcoming.