Baby T was born at the New Somerset Hospital on 2 August 2011. Her mother had indicated that she was relinquishing her child for adoption after delivering this healthy baby girl, but left the hospital before meeting with the adoption social worker. Baby T, placed in a particularly vulnerable position as social workers searched for her mother, spent the next seventeen days unclaimed in the hospital. On Friday 19 August Baby T was placed in our care on a Form 36 (Authority for the Removal of Child to Temporary Safe Care, according to the Children’s Act, 2005). The mother was subsequently found. Following a court appearance, the magistrate retained the baby in the care of Atlantic Hope while the Department of Social Development allocated a social worker to the case to assist the family and assess the home situation in terms of the best interest of the child concerned; an arrangement was soon reached. Baby T was reunited with her family, and Atlantic Hope remains in touch and has been able to assist her family with essentials.
