It has been over six years since Sherry (not her real name) has been in the ‘system’ and now legally an adult she can walk out of state care any day, but she believes the stability and security she receives in state care would be replaced by chaos should she return to her family.
“If I was outside… I would have two children already and living home or something,” the 19-year-old candidly told the Sunday Stabroek in a recent interview.
She was taken into state care at around the age of 12, following a horrific beating by her stepfather which left marks on her skin. She spent most of her years at the Drop-in Centre and like many boys and girls once over the age of 17, she was considered too old for the homes and therefore ‘aged out of the system’.
Many of the children who become adults, like Sherry, are afraid to return to the place they once called home, others have no place to call home and would be basically be left to fend for themselves. It was precisely for these reasons that the transition home better known as the halfway home was opened a few years ago under the then Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, affording young women and young men a stable environment after they aged out of the system.
The communal living arrangement may not be the best but for Sherry it is just what is needed to give her a chance to be properly prepared for the ‘outside world’. Sunday Stabroek toured the girls’ quarters. There are ten neatly-made beds almost side by side and ten small safes which the girls use to store personal items. There are also two bathrooms and two toilets and a small kitchen.
At present, the home has three girls and one boy. They do not share the same space; it is a two-storey building with the girls upstairs and the boys downstairs. However, Supervisor of the home Renatta Ashley explained that currently the children from the Drop-in Centre occupy the boys’ quarters because of the tragic fire at the location a few years ago. The new building is almost completed.
One young man who has been in the system for many years is still being accommodated and he is now a member of the joint services.
‘Do’s and don’ts’
Ashley explained that while the home has rules and regulations the residents would have signed to uphold through the contractual agreement, they are not restricted and persons are free to leave whenever they see the need. However, there have been cases where persons ran away from the home even though all they had to do was to pack and leave.
“At the half-way house, you don’t need to run away, you just have to come and say, ‘Miss I find somewhere to go’ and you get to leave,” Ashley said.
There have been about four such cases where girls left the home without informing persons in charge.
“The contract states the do’s and don’ts of the house and we do not offer them 24 hours supervision because they are young adults, so they get to go out and they have a curfew time to come in. They cannot entertain persons at the halfway house… and if they get pregnant, they know they would have to leave,” Ashley explained to this newspaper.
If any of the residents are found to be involved in using illicit drugs or in other illegal activities those are also grounds for them to be removed from the home.
Even if they work, the residents do not pay to remain in the home. Food and toiletries are provided for them, as according to Ashley, the home teaches them independence but helps them to save whatever money they earn. The saved sums can then be used when they finally leave the home to give them the start they need.
“When they come here, I would sit with them and try to find out what are their goals, what they would like to be because most times when they come here, they come with nothing. So, if some would like to go back to school, I would try my best to see what evening class I can put them in, if they already wrote CXC and they want to go to UG I would try that,” Ashley explained.
She said she would also help some to access skill training and because most times the boys prefer to join the joint services, she has developed a network and would assist them in getting into the service of their choice. “I would walk them through how to get a bank account, everything I would help them to do at first and if they have to be with the service for six months and need supplies, I would collect the list and take it to my supervisor and we would provide everything they need,” she added.
At times it is difficult to find jobs for the girls, but Ashley said she has since developed a relationship with companies such as Emerge, a call centre, which at times creates job descriptions according to the girls’ abilities in an effort to assist them to earn.
Of the three girls currently living there, one works at Emerge, another work at a day care centre and the third attends the Government Technical Institute (GTI).
Admire
Ashley said she admires the determination and resilience of Sherry, who wants to become a nurse one day but has never written CXC. But that has not stopped her as she has since done courses at the Ambulance Brigade, first aid, care for the elderly and others that would set her on track to become a nurse.
Sherry said working at the day care helps to prepare her for the world of nursing and her next move is to become a nursing assistant even as she attempts to start CXC classes later this year.
“I always know I want to become a nurse because I like helping people,” she said.
She remembers the day when she was beaten by her stepfather because she failed to fill several buckets of water before leaving for school. She was beaten so badly that the following day she was unable to take a bath before heading to school.
“I went and I tell my head teacher. I tell them to just, you know, like call my mother and so to make him don’t beat me again. But they take it further and take pictures of the marks and call in people and then I was put in the Drop-in Centre,” she recalled.
Her mother was very upset with her and Sherry said she was scared and did not want to be in the home.
“But to be honest, looking back, I don’t regret coming to the home because I don’t know what would have happen to me. Even now, if I go back to my mother all they would have me doing is selling in the shop, because they have a shop and I don’t want that. I want more than that,” she said.
She shared that all of her sisters have since started families of their own and are now dependent on their partners.
“And my sisters don’t really have a good relationship with mommy because my father he dead when I was five and people say that is she kill he or something like that so my sisters blame her,” she said. “But I love my mother and when I work, I does give her money, but I don’t want to live with her because she really can’t help me to make me better.”
As she spoke, another of the residents listening keenly, chimed in that she also did not want to return to her family. She revealed that both of her parents died when she was young, and she moved from house to house before she ended up in the state’s care.
“I used to live with me sister dem and then me aunty tek me and is like she didn’t able no more. Well I use to behave bad… because I was like stress out and I use to get away and so and then them tek me and put me in deh home. I don’t regret it now and I does go by me sister dem and so but I working and trying to make a life of me own. My family ain’t really get anywhere for me to stay either,” she said.
She works with Emerge and said she enjoys her job, but she one day hopes to become a teacher.
“I really want to become a teacher and I hope one day it happen because that is my dream,” she said with a small smile.
As they spoke the third girl entered attired in her GTI uniform.
She would not go into the sexual abuse that resulted in her being placed in the home but shared that she wants to become a doctor one day and she is now taking the science course at GTI and hopes to move on to UG.
“I am from the interior and I know if I go back now, I would not get the same opportunity that is why me not going back there now. But I does talk to my mother and my sisters and I would love to go back one day but not right now,” she said.
All three of the girls encouraged others to take advantage of the halfway home if they do not have secure environments to return to or they will be unable to follow their dreams because of financial constraints.
“This is a good opportunity, it is not the best but is a good one and if you have the determination to do better then stay and do it,” Sherry encouraged.
Ashley said that while the girls don’t always get along, they are a support to each other and for her the reward is giving each girl or boy who enters the home an opportunity to become a productive citizen.
