LADYVILLE–A 3-month-old infant died at the Liberty Children’s Home, in Ladyville, on Friday, December 5. In a police press release on Tuesday, December 9, police reported that the infant was the child of a 16-year-old girl who resides at the children’s home.

The director of the Liberty Children’s Home, Agatha Valentine, told Amandala this evening, Thursday, almost one week after the tragic incident at their compound, “I am not prepared to issue any statement to the media at this time. The matter is in the hands of the police; ask them!”

The release issued by police classified the demise of the infant as “sudden death.”

According to the release, “initial investigations revealed that at 5:20 a.m. on December 5, the 16-year-old mother of the child (of the children’s home), was seen with her baby in her arms, apparently dead. The baby was transported to the BDF hospital and later to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.”

“A post-mortem was conducted on the infant, where the cause of death was certified as ‘asphyxiation by suffocation,’” the release further stated.

Police say they are investigating the incident.

The infant’s death, however, raises alarming questions that the police, Liberty Children’s Home, and the Department of Human Services need to answer, such as how could a minor become impregnated while she is a resident at Liberty Children’s Home? And if this young mother did not get pregnant while living at the children’s home, was she pregnant when she was admitted as a resident there, and why hasn’t the father been criminally charged?