Corlene Straughn is the only mother four-year-old Trevon knows. He has been living with her since he was three months old.

by Maria Bradshaw

CORLENE STRAUGHN lives in a dilapidated house that is about to collapse on her and her family.

So bad are their living conditions that for the past four years an attorney, who got involved with the family through the law courts, has been trying to get assistance for them, to no avail.

He has written letters to parliamentary representative Cynthia Forde, the Rural Development Commission and Government's Advisor on Poverty, Hamilton Lashley who at the time was Minister of Social Transformation, pleading for urgent help for the family.

All have visited her humble abode at Rockhampton Gap, Jackson, St Michael, but the lawyer, who did not wish to be identified, said while they were shocked to see a family living in such poverty, no assistance of any kind had been forthcoming.

Straughn, her two teenage daughters, a four-year-old boy and her unemployed boyfriend live in the small two-bedroom house which is in such disrepair that the front section is leaning dangerously towards the road.

But despite her destitute circumstances, for the past four years she has been mother to the boy whose biological mother, Maureen Thornhill, abandoned him in her care.

The 37-year-old woman supports her family on small amounts of money she makes by selling newspapers and doing odd jobs. The only items she ever received from the mother of the child were a tin of Milo and a pack of Pampers – and that was two years ago.

Straughn told the WEEKEND NATION that while the child who calls her "mummy" is now a ward of the Child Care Board (CCB), she has taken on the responsibility of caring for him because she is the only mother
he knows.

"He is only a child. It is hard for me sometimes but I cannot abandon him because he is innocent. I look at it this way – all he wants at this time is food and as long as we are eating he will get something to eat," Straughn said as she hugged the boy with her thin frame.

She explained that the boy's mother, who has ten other children and whom she barely knew, befriended her younger daughter while she was attending a nearby church.

"My daughter would go to her house and she would come home and tell me that his mother used to go out and leave him at home alone. At that time he was a young baby so my daughter told his mother she would look after him when she goes out. One day she brought him to the house for my daughter to look after. He was three months old and the only time she ever came back for him was when Hurricane Ivan was going to hit Barbados some months later.

"We were going to a shelter so she came and collected him, but the next day she brought him back and told me that he was crying for me."

Straughn did not hesitate to take back the boy who was six months then. She never saw his mother again, and when she went searching for her two years ago she was informed the woman was

living in the United States.

At one time Straughn took the child to the CCB after it became difficult for her to continue caring for him but, she confessed, she soon missed him and went back for him, even though she knew her living conditions were not ideal.

Her 17-year-old daughter sleeps on a sofa in the living room while the 15-year-old sleeps in the front bedroom. That bedroom has lost half of its floor, so half of the bed is on the floor while the other half has sunken into the cellar.

Straughn, her boyfriend who is too ill to work, and the little boy share the other bedroom, which is also crowded with clothes and furniture.

Cardboard barely conceals huge holes in the sides of the house while the rotting roof no longer keeps out the elements.

Bit by bit Straughn has tried
to improve the living situation and has managed to accumulate about 300 concrete blocks – one or two at a time.

She had attempted to build a new house with her bare hands but the lengths of board are rotting and the foundation, which she dug by hand, is beginning to fill back in. Food has taken priority.

The desperate mother is fearful that the poverty she has been forced to endure for so long will also trap her teenage daughters.

Her 17-year-old was doing well at school with the support of teachers and the principal but the family's living conditions soon caused her to rebel.
She now has a one-year-old child,
with no support from the father.

Straughn is concerned about the future of her 15-year-old who, while doing well at school, is being pressured and teased by her peers.

"The children are embarrassed and
it is hard on them. I need a decent house to get my children out of this situation,"
she cried.

When contacted, MP Forde said the Rural Development Commission had all the files pertaining to the family's case but, she said, they could not proceed with building a house for them because Straughn was not the owner of the land.

"I can give her a two-bedroom house today but we need a spot to put it on," Forde stated.

About the little boy, Forde said she knew his mother very well and was shocked to learn that Straughn still had the boy.

"She has raised him as one of her own and that is commendable, but her children are emotionally hurt by their circumstances. The family is in need
of great help and we will have to
re-examine the case and see what
we can do," she added.

l mariabradshaw@nationnews.com