President David Granger on Thursday officially opened the first Children and Family Care Centre, in Sophia, Georgetown.
According to the Department of Public Information (DPI), the $250 million facility is the brainchild of the Ministry of Social Protection and is being dubbed a “safe haven” for vulnerable and at-risk children and their families.
In a report issued on Thursday, the DPI said Social Protection Minister Amna Ally as explaining that the 24-hour service centre can hold some 80 children. It also has eight self-contained apartments for families who may need temporary shelter.
“The centre will be a sanctuary and the first stop for vulnerable children. It will offer an alternative to caregivers, at risk for abandoning or placing their child in residential care,” she was quoted as saying.
Ally also said children living in the institution are expected to attend school and be enrolled in a daycare if they have not attained school age. Parents will be required to work, attend job training programmes, seek housing and employment and attend social service appointments.
While the facility is there to assist vulnerable families, the aim is also to encourage independence and self-sufficiency through empowerment. The centre will, therefore, accommodate families for three months or longer, before the families move on.
According to the report, Minister Ally believes that children grow best in families. “Many children are being brought away from their families because of poverty, not because they are unloved or unwanted. At the ministry, we believe children grow best in families and so we fight every day to help families go from barely surviving to thriving,” she said.
President Granger, who also spoke at the commissioning of the facility, indicated that he envisages the establishment of child advocacy centres in all ten administrative regions of Guyana.
“Every child deserves a happy childhood and we the adults have a collective duty to support children’s enjoyment of that right,” he was quoted as saying by DPI.
Ensuring that right, he said, also means allowing children to be in the comfort of their homes and growing up with their own families.
“Children are nurtured best in a home, rather than an institution, even an excellent institution like this. A happy home is essential for children’s development. The family holds the primary responsibility for the protection of their offspring and their upbringing,” he added.
He underscored the significance of Guyana’s constitution and the provision it makes for the safeguarding of the children. “We are making progress in ensuring a better future for our children. We are strengthening childcare and protection; we are working to reunite families. We must continue on this path; we must continue to move forward to years ahead,” he said.
