J’can mother loses court bid to stop son’s adoption by Canadian family
KINGSTON, Jamaica — A British Columbia judge has ruled against a Jamaican mother’s bid to regain custody of her 10-year-old son who is set to be adopted into a Canadian family.
According to Canadian media reports, the ruling was recently handed down after a four-day hearing earlier this year during which the 38-year old Jamaican applied to have a continuing custody order, which gave the British Columbia Ministry of Child and Family Development custody of her son, to be cancelled.
It was reported that the case stemmed from 2013 when the boy, who is now 10, moved from living with his mother in Jamaica to a community in British Columbia to live with his father and stepmother.
Less than a year later, the child was taken by social workers after he suffered mistreatment and abuse at the hands of his stepmother and placed into foster care. The Ministry of Child and Family Development applied for custody in the summer of 2014.
Reports noted that a nine-day trial was set for dates in the spring and summer of 2015, however, it was alleged that the ministry didn’t send legal documents.
In 2017, with the help of the Jamaican government, the mother applied to dismiss the court order, in an attempt to get her child returned to her.
However, it was not until a year later when another trial was held and the boy’s mother flew to British Columbia to testify.
“The court heard there were concerns the boy may have suffered physical abuse in Jamaica, and he had told social workers and his foster mother he wanted to stay in Canada with his foster family,” Canadian news outlet CBC stated, adding that the child “is adamant that he does not want to return to his mother in Jamaica”.
David Greig, the Jamaican woman’s lawyer, argued that social workers did not investigate the abuse allegations stemming from the boy’s time in Jamaica.
“There is no question that his life will be enriched by being in Canada, but that is not the point. The point is that motherhood trumps those things, in my view,” said Greig.
It is said that the mother is considering an appeal.
