Investigation into non-declaration of children

On Tuesday, July 30, an officer from the Minors and Family Welfare Protection Team reported a concerning case involving a resident of Battery Casey, St. Croix, who had never declared her children.

According to the officer, the woman gave birth to a little boy on January 22, 2022. Despite repeated attempts by the police and the Child Development Unit (CDU) to contact her and inform her of her obligation to declare her child, Butteri-Casey did not make this birth declaration.

Since she was a sex worker who did not want to take care of her child and flatly refused to declare it, the CDU took possession of the little boy. But as long as the parents did not agree to the declaration, the CDU could not move forward with the procedure. Only after the death of the parents could the CDU take an oath and declare the child’s identity. In this case, the little boy eventually developed health problems and died on December 27, 2023. An autopsy showed that he died of intestinal obstruction.

The relevant departments conducted an investigation and apparently, it was confirmed by the Civil Affairs Bureau that the child had died without being reported.

A report has been filed with the police in accordance with Article 17 and Article 70 (5) of the Citizenship Act regarding failure to declare birth and concealment of birth, and all relevant documents have been handed over to the police for investigation. This investigation aims to determine whether these two articles constitute a crime.

According to Article 17, “Anyone who discovers a newborn and neglects to report it is committing a crime.” If found guilty, she will be fined not more than Rs 5,000 and jailed for up to six months.

According to Article 70, paragraph 5 of the same law, the birth of a newborn baby means that anyone who discovers the newborn baby must report this fact to the nearest police station within 24 hours of discovery. This was also not done and was a cover-up.

The mother will soon be arrested under the law, which also requires a declaration before burying a child, according to the source.