The Appalling Asylum Seeker Conditions

[azureline**]

This is disgraceful and I can only hope the people who are in charge fix this asap.

An asylum seeker who was moved off Nauru to give birth is being locked up for 18 hours a day in a detention centre in Brisbane while her week-old baby remains in hospital with respiratory problems.

The case of Latifa, a 31-year-old woman of the persecuted Rohingya people of Myanmar, has shocked churches and refugee advocates.

She was separated from her baby on Sunday, four days after a caesarean delivery, and has since been allowed to visit him only between 10am and 4pm in Brisbane's Mater Hospital. The boy, named Farus, has respiratory problems and needs round-the-clock medical care.

Latifa is confined to the Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation, 20 minutes away, where her husband and two children, four and seven, are being held.

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Latifa's husband, Niza, is not allowed to visit the child at all, according to people in daily contact with the family.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/asylum-seeker-mother-kept-from-newborn-baby-in...

[azureline**]

the conditions that are appalling, to me, are that the mother and baby were separated.............. they are in a low security facility.

At no time was my op referring to that centre ........... just the situation with the baby.

Your experiences were how many years ago? just like mine are irrelevant. Things change over time. We aim for better.

[azureline**]

5 to 6 hours a day she was allowed to be there. How do they establish breast feeding?

Parents can come and go at all hours, not restricted to 10am to 4 pm. Some mothers go in for every feeding time. There is accommodation available .........

[izabsmiling]

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@**meep** wrote:

Wasn't the mother allowed to see the baby every day?  Transported to the hospital daily to be with the baby?  Only not allowed to stay overnight ?

Doctors at the hospital advise it is common practice for mothers not to stay overnight with babies in special care units due to bed restrictions.  

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Where is that from Meep? Does the doctor not know that many parents (Mother and/or Father) sleep in chairs not Beds?

[azureline**]

It is from the original news item, not a quote from the doctors or the hospital though.

[**meep**]

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@izabsmiling wrote:

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@**meep** wrote:

Wasn't the mother allowed to see the baby every day?  Transported to the hospital daily to be with the baby?  Only not allowed to stay overnight ?

Doctors at the hospital advise it is common practice for mothers not to stay overnight with babies in special care units due to bed restrictions.  

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Where is that from Meep? Does the doctor not know that many parents (Mother and/or Father) sleep in chairs not Beds?

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The hospital??  Ring them and ask why this is a common practice.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@**meep** wrote:

Wasn't the mother allowed to see the baby every day?  Transported to the hospital daily to be with the baby?  Only not allowed to stay overnight ?

Doctors at the hospital advise it is common practice for mothers not to stay overnight with babies in special care units due to bed restrictions.  

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also, wouldn't the mother be advised to rest at some stage? Wouldn't she need to care for her other children at some stage?

They haven't denied her access (even though she is a detainee) it was simply limited, undoubtedly because of the available resources at such short notice in an atypical and probably unanticipated situation.

not the neonatal, but LC spent about 10 days at the RBH, she was actually in the burns unit (but she wasn't burned) and there were some pretty sick kids some who had been there for MONTHS, and their parents were not able to stay, they weren't even allowed a meal supplied by the hospital even if they paid! They had to go to one of the canteens. ONE of us were allowed a meal the first day we were there, no showers, no laundry facilities and we didn't have the luxury of acommodation only 20 minutes away either, or of being dropped off and collected each day. We had to find and pay for parking, usually 6 to 8 blocks away if we didn't pay the car park fees and parked on the street in an area that wasn't designated 2 hours only.

[*elizabeths-mum*]

Breastfeeding will be established, or not, in exactly the same way many mothers of babies in high care units, where the child is unable to be nursed or held do so.

Just reflecting on my sporadic trips to our special care nursery on Night duty, to collect or deliver babies or babies needs, have never noticed parents sleeping on chairs. Ours does seem cluttered up with babies though.

[*elizabeths-mum*]

"An asylum seeker who was moved off Nauru to give birth is being locked up for 18 hours a day in a detention centre in Brisbane while her week-old baby remains in hospital with respiratory problems."

Isn't that wonderfully emotive. You picture them being confined to a Dickensian style cell while the baby cries endlessly, alone and unloved at an inhuman faceless institution.

[polksaladallie]

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@my*mum wrote:

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not the neonatal, but LC spent about 10 days at the RBH, she was actually in the burns unit (but she wasn't burned) and there were some pretty sick kids some who had been there for MONTHS, and their parents were not able to stay, they weren't even allowed a meal supplied by the hospital even if they paid! They had to go to one of the canteens. ONE of us were allowed a meal the first day we were there, no showers, no laundry facilities and we didn't have the luxury of acommodation only 20 minutes away either, or of being dropped off and collected each day. We had to find and pay for parking, usually 6 to 8 blocks away if we didn't pay the car park fees and parked on the street in an area that wasn't designated 2 hours only.

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Ronald McDonald House is located at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, within close proximity of the RCH. It provides a 'home-away-from-home' for the families of seriously ill children who are undergoing treatment at the RCH and other nearby facilities. Accommodation at Ronald McDonald House allows families to stay together in a homelike environment at a fraction of the cost of a motel room, for as long as they need to, thereby helping to preserve the family unit in the midst of physical, emotional and economic adversity. Ronald McDonald House can comfortably accommodate up to 51 families. Six rooms at Ronald McDonald House are fully self-contained, making them ideal for outpatients requiring semi-isolated facilities.

http://www.health.qld.gov.au/rch/families/parent_accommodation.asp

You could have stayed at the hospital  ^^^^^^

You could have used the RBWH very large car park.  You said you paid for parking. 

some who had been there for MONTHS, and their parents were not able to stay

I don't believe this for a second.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@azureline** wrote:

the conditions that are appalling, to me, are that the mother and baby were separated.............. they are in a low security facility.

At no time was my op referring to that centre ........... just the situation with the baby.

Your experiences were how many years ago? just like mine are irrelevant. Things change over time. We aim for better.

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yes, a low security facility - transferred there for the birth - so already exceptions made to do the best possible for this expectant mum. Not only the expecting mum, but her whole family were released from detention.

I'm referring to the situation with the mother and baby too. Despite the fact she was a detainee, she was transferred to a low security facility only 20 minutes away from the hospital and despite the logistics and additional staffing and planning for transport, security etc, on short notice was able to have access for 6 hours a day.

It was only for 4 days. People need time to implement new protocol and procedure if it is not already in place. Surely she wanted some time to be with her partner and other children? For support? or should the entire family have been allowed to come and stay at the hospital? and all the logistics of security involved in that as well?