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Amoya Mitchell – Longing to reunite with siblings

Published:Friday | December 10, 2021 | 12:15 AMCecelia Campbell-Livingston/Gleaner Writer
Amoya Mitchell
Amoya Mitchell
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AS THE Yuletide season approaches, 23-year-old Amoya Mitchell has one wish, and it is to be reunited with her other siblings.

Reaching out to The Gleaner, she said she longs to have that bond that only siblings can share. Growing up and never laying eyes on either of her parents, she and her brother Brenton Mitchell were adopted into the same home.

She recalls her bother being adopted by Herbert and Hortense Williams first, and then being informed that he has a sister in the foster care system. Mitchell was also adopted into the family, where they grew up in Trelawny.

However, when she was nine years old, her adoptive mother died and a few years later her sister, Shirley Rattray, officially took over her care and she relocated to Clarendon.

Now an adult living in Palmer’s Cross in the parish, Mitchell said she is longing to reunite with the rest of her brothers and sisters.

Mitchell said she was informed by the Child Development Agency (now Child Protection and Family Services Agency) that her father, Lloyd Mitchell, aka ‘Shut’, used to visit her brother and herself when they were in the foster care system. However, the contact ceased when they were adopted.

She was made to understand by the agency that she has an aunt, Faith Robinson, who lives in Lilliput, St James. She was also told that her mother died when she was young, but she has no idea on the status of her father.

“I don’t know how to describe it. I just know that I long to meet my siblings, who I have so many questions for. I ache for that kind of a connection,” she shared.

Mitchell said she just wants to find them, to talk to them to know even a little more about the people who left her in state care.

Christmas is a time of cheer and good feelings, so for her there could be no greater celebration than to be reunited with the rest of her siblings.

cecelia.campbell@gleanerjm.com