The number of children in institutional care has fallen sharply and the Child Care and Protection Agency (CPA) in collaboration with relevant stakeholders is in the process of developing a national policy document for such children.
According to a GINA press release, Director of the CPA, Ann Greene, said that the document which is to be completed by the end of 2016 will focus on areas of supporting, protecting and caring for children who are placed in institutional care.
The release stated there are approximately 165 children being housed at the Sophia Care Centre and Half-way Home, the Mahaica Children’s Home and the Drop-in Centre. This is a significant reduction as earlier this year, it was reported that 700 children were in institutional care.
“The Care Centre is a place that really the children should not stay too long. It is an alternative option for a child in need of care. So when we take you in, we have to provide the same things that they might need when they are in a home. They must attend school; there must be some kind of training and extracurricular activities, they must go to church, so it’s a normal type of setting like when they are in a home, Greene explained.
According to the release, the Sophia Centre is the largest of the facilities with about 90 children. Greene said that at the Sophia Centre, there is also the Half-way Home where the children are allowed until the age of 18.
“At this home, we have an independent living skills programme. They have to get up to prepare their breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have to report on their day to day activities and whereabouts and so on. So it’s not like the regular children’s home,” Greene stated.
The release stated that this year, the Child Care and Protection Agency received an increased budgetary allocation of $471m as compared to $253m in 2015.
This money is being used on several initiatives including ensuring that children in institutional care are placed in families and providing for the extension of the Child Care and Protection building at Broad Street, the rehabilitation and extension of the Drop-in Centre and the repair of Sophia Half-way Centre, the release said.
