By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HIS STORY shocked the country last year but sadly the Princess Margaret Hospital’s five-year-old boarder “Arthur” is still living at the Paediatric Ward.

Five months after The Tribune published his story, Arthur’s two-year-long stint at the hospital continues despite a request for adoption and renewed contact with his mother.

“We’re still trying to manage the issue with all the boarders,” said Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands yesterday.

“If there were an easy or simple solution we would have acted on it already. You cannot just put these patients albeit boarders out, into an environment that is either not safe or supportive.

He continued: “The hospital is not an adoption agency, notwithstanding the challenge that is not the process of adoption. It starts with social services, I can be instructed. It’s not as simple as, oh, this child has been here for years, there’s a family, take this child. It doesn’t work that way. We cannot circumvent the process, and the legal process.

Dr Sands added: “These issues speak to some deep rooted challenges in our social fabric and points out a number of the gaps. We don’t have the type of long care low intensity nursing homes or the type of hospice environment. So until they are able to be introduced and supported we are going to continue to pay this price.”

The Grand Bahama family behind the adoption request, who spoke to this newspaper on the condition of anonymity, expressed frustration over the “nonchalant” manner in which their interest has been managed by both the hospital, and the Ministry of Social Services.

“It took forever before I actually spoke to a person,” said the GB mother interested in adopting Arthur, “maybe a month has passed or more to the end of November. I must have spoken with every agency associated with Social Services in Nassau, they just kept transferring me over and over until they finally referred me to Social Services in Grand Bahama and that’s when I lost my patience.”

“I had already gone through that run around with another child. I lost my patience with that office and I didn’t want to go through that again. We’re still interested (in Arthur), I guess I need a new burst of mental clarity to deal with that.”

The Tribune changed Arthur’s name to protect his identity as one of four child boarders being housed at PMH last year. In September when the story was published, two infant girls were in the Neonatal Ward.

His case is one of dozens of children that have called the institution home due to their complex medical histories, some unable to leave until they are teenagers and others as adults.

PMH administrator Mary Lightbourne-Walker last month confirmed the number of boarders had nearly doubled since The Tribune exclusively revealed in September there were 28 boarders costing the public hospital more than $15,000 a day.

Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands said the issue costs the government a whopping $7m each year.

The Tribune understands Arthur’s mother was in talks with the hospital concerning his discharge in November, but did not follow through.

This was after the GB family’s interest in Arthur, which began with an email inquiry on September 19.

The adoption request was forwarded by email to EMC on September 21, advising of the request and guidance for appropriate response/referral from the Hospital,” the report read.

Advice was given to contact Social Services for more information; however, the GB mother sent another email on October 3, requesting update on information regarding adoption process for paediatric boarders.

The hospital responded to the GB mother on October 4 advising her to contact the hospital’s social workers and provided contact details.

 The following month Arthur’s mother was in contact with him and expressed hopes of taking him home, but by the following month had not followed through on this.

In an interview with the Tribune, the GB mother explained her family had previously attempted to adopt a girl but were unsuccessful due to issues with obtaining a passport for the child.

She continued: “It was so off-putting, and it was disturbing to my child because she still remembers the girl. We didn’t want to go down that road again where you get attached. It makes you feel like they want to keep the children as opposed to finding homes for them.

“We’re still interested. When you think about what he (Arthur) could have been getting adjusted to, instead of being stuck there still.

She added: “(Adoption) was something we (family) always said we would do even before we got married, it didn’t matter how many children we had, we would adopt one.”

Hospital officials did not respond to requests for comment up to press time.