A Jamaican man who found a naked baby abandoned in a bloody bag has expressed his desire to adopt her. Per The Gleaner, Oshane Briscoe, and a female friend on May 3 found “Baby Sunshine” in a shopping bag that had been left on a fence in the parish of St. Andrew.
The minor was found with ants on her body and her umbilical cord still attached – her body was also covered with bite marks. Following the discovery, Briscoe told the news outlet that they initially took the baby to the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, adding that medical officials at the facility did not take her in.
However, officials at the hospital cut the baby’s umbilical cord and cleaned her before asking Briscoe and his friend to take the minor to Bustamante Hospital for Children. The Kingston contractor, who has reportedly developed a deep affection for the baby, has been visiting the minor every day, but has not been granted access to the infant.
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“It is a case of abandonment under investigation and protocol dictates that contact be limited until the case has been properly investigated. Hospital protocol dictates that only parents are allowed to visit children and this is still under investigation,” the director of the Caribbean nation’s South East Regional Health Authority, Dr Sandra Chambers, explained.
“The baby is now a ward of the hospital and only persons from CPFSA [Child Protection and Family Services Agency] and the police are authorized to visit.”
Briscoe also said that during one of his visits to the facility, a box of diapers he got for the baby was rejected. Responding to his statement, Chambers said they can “only accept general donations that will be utilized for general patient care and not this specific child.”
“This case is still under investigation. There are clear, strict protocols that govern what you can and cannot do at the hospital,” she added.
Meanwhile, authorities are yet to locate the abandoned baby’s mother and relatives. Despite the setbacks, Briscoe told The Gleaner that he’s looking into what he has to do to adopt Baby Sunshine. The father of two also said he’s open to becoming the baby’s foster parent if he’s unable to adopt her.
“We are not yet clear as to the identity of the baby or the parents of the baby; however, we are grateful that the baby was found by a good Samaritan,” Errol Greene, a regional director at SERHA, said.
