I WANT BACK MY BABIES
Fearing for the safety of her children, Sariann Powell says she is now desperate to be reunited with them as they were forcibly taken from her two weeks ago. Powell, a single mother, told THE STAR that she sells goods along Red Hills Road in order to offset the costs associated with caring for her four-year-old and 10-month-old sons.
On October 12, 40-year-old Powell said that she was approached by a man and a woman, who accused her of endangering and neglecting her children.
“A gentleman drive up in a car with a lady and say me inna the sun with my children every day and dat me not taking proper care of them. I asked him ‘what do you know about me to say that I am not taking proper care of my children?’ Him said: ‘I watch you every day’ and mi haffi answer him and ask him a wha him problem,” she stated.
Powell said the man then offered to assist her with getting some things for the children. Not thinking of herself, Powell said she happily accepted.
“He said I see you need assistance and if you need assistance, what would you like? I said, Sir, I just would like some money to buy food for my children and send them to school. He said okay.”
NEEDED HELP
Up until that time, neither the man nor the woman had identified themselves to Powell. After stating that she needed help in sending her kids to school and giving them food, Powell said they grabbed her kids and told her that they were Child Development Agency (CDA) workers and would be taking the children from her.
“I wasn’t thinking and I was under stress. They decided that they were going to take my children but they did not say where they were going to take them to. It was one fight for them to take my baby but I decided that I was not going to make them hurt my baby, so I let him go and from that I don’t hear anything,” she said.
To make matters worse, Powell said she visited the CDA office to see her children, but was told that they had no record of them being there. With no answers forthcoming, Powell also filed a missing report at the Half-Way Tree Police Station.
“My son sick with him heart and the other one has a breathing problem. I worry about them because they are always with me. I don’t know which mother would not feel heavy hearted not having her children around. I don’t know what is going to become of them,” Powell said.
However, when contacted, a CDA representative told THE STAR that the children were indeed in their care and are being cared for. They, however, could provide no other details regarding the incident.