MANCHESTER, Jamaica — A six-year-old boy was on Monday reunited with his family following a four-hour frantic search in Albion, Manchester where the child had wandered off from a special needs school where his parents had brought him to get registered.

The search operation included firefighters, the police, residents of Albion and the boy’s relatives.

A woman who identified herself as a family friend said although she was relieved that the child was found she pointed to the damaged fence at the Gloria Gayle Early Childhood and Therapeutic where the child is said to have wandered through.

“This is a school for autistic children, but no children cannot come here, because it doesn’t have a back fence. My friend’s grandson went through the back and they couldn’t find him. They found him up Top Albion at Shine shop without clothes, dirty with cow [dung],” the woman said, pointing to the considerable distance that the child was found.

“This school shouldn’t be open in September until they fix the back fence. It has to be fixed,” she added.

She explained that the child and his parents turned up at the school on Monday morning to register him.

“They [parents] came to register him at about 8:15 am and they just found him about 15 minutes ago. The little boy cannot talk. The school nuh ready. Nobody shouldn’t send their children here until the school is fixed,” the woman told Observer Online shortly after midday.

However, Dorothy Daniels, a manager at Spanish Town-based Community Based Rehabilitation Jamaica (CBRJ), which has responsibility for the school, said the fence was vandalised.

“The back fencing was stolen by those scrap metal thugs. They removed the metal posts and then the wires,” she explained, adding that plans are in place to have the fence repaired in time for the new academic year in September.

Daniels said the incident was isolated as it was unusual and questioned the monitoring of the child by his parents.

Karl Hall, another family friend, pointed to wasp nests around the property.

“Pure wasp. These [abandoned] toilet fixtures you see there is pure wasp in it. He (boy) could’ve gone under there and the amount of wasp under there could have bitten him, but nevertheless look at the bush. Remember the child cannot talk, so if somebody met him inside the bush there he cannot say his name. He can’t speak to you. You cannot have places like these and say it is for children,” said Hall.

“This needs to be rectified over the holiday period, because he travel all those bushes and end up find himself back on the main road,” he added.

Daniels said the facility is also set to be painted.

“We are in the process of rebuilding it. We have a team setup, we call it the friends of Gloria Gayle Early Childhood Centre who are now sourcing funds and material to replace the fence,” said Daniels.

The school, which cares for special needs children, was reopened in 2018 after it was renovated. The school was named in honour of Gloria Gayle, a retired coordinator for the 3-D project, now CBRJ, which caters to children with disabilities in Manchester neighbouring parishes for over two decades.

— Kasey Williams