After the fire at the Drop-in Centre claimed the lives of two young brothers, the Ministry of Social Protection has decided to offer their parents a plot of land and a fully furnished two-bedroom house.
According to a source at the Ministry, a meeting was convened yesterday between Sonia and Leon George, the parents of the two boys, Joshua, 6, and Antonio, 2, and senior minister Volda Lawrence and other ministry officials.
The source said Lawrence indicated that the offer is not compensation for the deaths of the two boys, since a measure cannot be put on the lives of the two children; rather, the ministry’s aim is to ensure that the family can resume a normal as possible life together.
To further assist the family, Lawrence also set out a long term plan to help improve the skills of the parents, reunite the three surviving children with the parents, help improve the economic standing of the family and to ensure that the children are properly integrated into their new schools.
With reference to the schools, the source explained that the children were currently facing issues at their current schools and the mother had since requested that they be transferred to different schools.
“The mother told us that they were being asked about the incident by their friends and being forced to relive the whole event and we don’t want that,” the source explained, while pointing out that one of the children, who was slated to attend Christ Church Secondary, will be transferred to North Georgetown Secondary, while his sister will be transferred from St Agnes Primary to Stella Maris.
The children will also be provided with all necessary materials to begin classes during the new school year, which starts on Monday.
A social worker, not attached to the ministry, will also be identified to assist the family with any professional help that it might need as one of the goals of the ministry is to provide support for the family so that the parents can take “psychosocial and economic control” of their family.
While it was reported that the Joshua and Antonio were removed from their family because of abuse and neglect, the source explained that the family environment that the children were exposed to has not changed much and is one of the main reasons why the ministry has opted to provide counselling to the family.
Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) Director Ann Greene will prepare the programme that will be designed to provide “critically needed counselling” for the parents and specific strategies to help reintegrate the other siblings, who are still in the care of the CCPA, with their family.
The source explained that the ministry is adamant about ensuring that the issues that prompted the CCPA to remove the two boys from their parents Chapel Street, Lodge home are resolved before the reintegrating process.
However, while the offer has not been yet been accepted by the Georges, the source explained that if it is, the ministry will also rent an apartment for the family as they work towards providing the family with the new environment “before Christmas.”
When Stabroek News contacted the Georges yesterday, Sonia explained that she had not accepted the offer because she needed “time to think.” “Right now I can’t make no decision as yet because I have to think about it,” the woman said, while pointing out that another meeting is slated for next week Thursday.
However, the father, Leon George explained to Stabroek News that he does not want to accept the offer and wants monetary compensation for the death of his children.
“We can build our own house. We have people that are willing to help build a house for us,” he said.
One of the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the fire was for the family to be offered some sort of compensation for their loss.
At the time of the July 7th fire, there were 29 other children at the facility and they managed to escape.
Because of the extent of the fire and the deaths, President David Granger had ordered the CoI to be held. Former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) spokesperson Colonel Windee Algernon conducted the probe and found “systematic failures at all levels” and that the persons in charge of the centre are collectively responsible for the state of affairs that led to the deaths of the two young brothers.
