The father of a young boy who was left alone in a Glasgow flat for days following the death his mum has demanded an investigation into the country's care system.
Adriel Nnanna was just 18 months old when his mother Mercy Baguma died in August 2020. It is feared that he lay for four days at the property in Govan.
Mercy, a 34-year-old asylum seeker from Uganda, was eventually found by police after the sound of her baby crying alerted people who reported it to the police.
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Distraught little Adriel was found in his cot , and now his dad Eric Nnanna, has now called for a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) to be held in order to 'close gaps in the care system' and prevent future tragedies, the Daily Record reports.
Hopes that a legal investigation would shed light on what caused the tragic event were severed after there appeared to be no rules that explained what officials and care workers were meant to do in an event where they can’t contact or locate a parent.
Eric said: "The legal action was never about money - it was about making Home Office and Mears Group hold their hands up and admit they got things wrong. Have these two organisations even made any changes to how they do things since August 2020?
"They should be telling us if they have so people know they are safe. There’s still so many mysteries about what happened around the whole incident and as the Home Office and Maers Group won’t tell us openly I think an FAI is the best and maybe the only way to see, learn and improve things.
“Something needs to happen so things can improve as we can’t have a care system where there are no rules. Adriel is now doing well and becoming a big boy and I thank everyone for their help but we are trying to build a future at what is still a difficult time so we ask that our privacy is respected.”
Kim Leslie, Partner at Digby Brown, added: “What happened to Adriel was utterly devastating and understandably affected the nation because how can we have a care system with gaps so large it leaves a child alone for days after the death of his mother? I can only hope the Home Office has now bridged such gaps and equally, I would encourage the COPFS to conduct a fatal accident inquiry so a tragedy like this never again occurs.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: "This is a tragic situation and our condolences go to Ms Baguma’s family. We have since undertaken a number of significant changes to keep asylum seekers safe, including how we, our contractors and charities spot vulnerable individuals and provide them with wraparound support and appropriate accommodation.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson added: “We support calls to establish the facts of this tragic case so that her family can have some understanding.”
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