Assaulted and later forced out of the place she called home, her clothes and that of her daughter flung out, a pregnant 36-year-old Jenny (not her real name) made the streets her home. There, she lived for weeks before being taken to the Child Care and Protection Agency and later became a resident of the Children and Family Care Centre in Sophia.
One year later, Jenny is now employed. She has rented a home and the independence she has now been equipped with is priceless, she said. When she was put out of her home by the father of her child she was pregnant and while a second child was not what she wanted at the time, today she loves the son she initially wanted to put up for adoption.
“I feel good. I ain’t had nothing and when I leave there I leave with everything. I leave with bed, stove, wardrobe, clothes, dining set, table, ration. Everything that a family needs I got it and I am thankful for the help I get from the centre. When I was there I got breakfast, lunch and dinner…,” Jenny told Stabroek Weekend in a recent interview.
While on the streets, Jenny said, she slept “anywhere night catch me. I not telling you no lie. I sleep in the market, in front of Demico, anywhere. It was really hard and I just happy that things get better.”
Jenny is among some 12 women and children who have been residents of the centre, which Child Care and Protection Agency Head Ann Greene said rose out of the ashes of the Drop-in Centre which was destroyed by fire. The main focus of the centre is helping children and it is the first stop for children in difficult circumstances. Greene explained that instead of removing a child from the family setting, the centre is geared at helping the entire family and then they can transition. While the eight two-bedroom apartments can accommodate families with fathers, so far only families headed by women have accessed the assistance.
Today Guyana ends its one week observance of Child Protection Week, which was first observed in 2004, under the theme ‘Breaking the Silence on Child Sexual Abuse’. Today there is an average of 194 children in state care with the total number of children living in alternative care, such as foster care, is 700+.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, the child care agency has continued efforts to safeguard children, and build the capacity of their families to forge an environment which allows them to reach their potential, even in this time of uncertainty.
The week, the release said, is set aside annually as a national project, with the main focus being increasing common awareness and understanding of the importance of primary prevention to reduce child abuse and neglect in the society, by instilling the core principle that child protection is everyone’s business.
Individuals, communities, and groups, including religious organisations, are encouraged to take action to ensure that children’s rights are not violated and that they can live in communities where they are free from harm and abuse.
Greene noted that with the support of Minister Vindhya Persaud, the agency is putting emphasis and focusing heavily on engaging the communities as it is important to establish partnership with them. She pointed out that it is the community members who know what is happening in families and can provide support for the agency.
“We know of a child being abused when somebody tells us [and we] want to galvanise communities to be child friendly and ensure the safety for children,” she said.
She stressed that communities have a moral and civil responsibility for the protection of children and residents cannot take the position that it is not their business.
Minister Persaud is launching a programme in communities that aims to keep children safe; it will run for three years and according to Greene it is most important to get community members on board as there are more cases than manpower hence the need for such essential partnerships.
The whole family
According to Greene, children are often in a vulnerable situation when there is a struggle for proper accommodation for the family. Through the centre, the agency can work with the entire family and then transition them.
“If there is a father, the father could come, we are talking about parents. We are talking about families…,” she stressed, adding that a child can be taken to the centre by the police or a member of the public anytime of the day or night. There is no accommodation for children who are offenders but rather for children who may be neglected, have run away from home, are lost from their parents, among others.
Greene revealed that there are certain criteria for a family to meet before being allowed to stay at the centre. Families are allowed to stay for six months before being transitioned. There is a training facility at the centre and there must be strict adherence to certain measures. Apart from the eight two-bedroom apartments, there are also four sections for children who are there without parents, two for the younger boys and girls and two for those who are older. The boys and girls are kept separately.
The agency’s director said they are working towards deinstitutionalizing children and not separating them from their families. While there are cases where children will have to be removed from their homes, Greene said they do not want to unnecessarily remove children from their families and the centre helps with this process.
“The goal is for the reunification of the child and parents and we must work with them so we can fix the vulnerability. We are looking at adoption as a permanent plan [because] if the children can’t go home we can still find a permanent home for them,” she said.
Had a fight
For Jenny the centre has thrown her another opportunity to be independent. She said she entered it on September 9, 2020 and left on September 14 this year. She is a mother of a three-year-old daughter and a 10-month-old son. She has an older son who was raised by his father.
She recalled that she had a fight with the father of her children in July of last year when life for her took a sad turn.
“I didn’t done cook and he come home and he say he hungry so I tell he it get bread in the fridge that he could eat because I was pregnant and you know I was not feeling good. He open he mouth and I open back me mouth and he hit me and we start fighting. He then throw me and me daughter clothes out, I had furniture but he ain’t throw that out,” she said.
Instead of picking up the clothes, Jenny said, she went to the nearest police station and made a report and she was told to return to the home but the man did not allow her to enter. She returned to the station and an officer was sent with her to the home.
“But like the police officer they send me with was he family because he said, ‘Oh is you? Leh we tek two drinks and don’t worry with duh crazy woman’. I just pick up the clothes and leave, if I tell you I know where I was going I would be lying. I just lef,” she said.
“I went on the street with my daughter and my big belly. People asking me if I need help and they would give me money and I would buy things fuh me daughter.
“I would buy water and sometimes Kool Aid and make drink for my baby girl and I never used to bathe. I am not lying or anything I am telling you woman to woman I didn’t use to bathe.”
Following weeks of this, a man and woman stopped and asked why she was on the streets as they had passed her there several times. She asked them if they could take her to Broad Street to the Child Care agency, but they instead suggested Help and Shelter. When they got to the non-governmental organisation, which has a home for battered women, they were informed that it did not accommodate women with children. The couple took her to their East Bank Demerara home and ensured that she and her daughter were cleaned up and fed. They spent the night. The next morning they were taken to the agency.
One year instead of six months
Jenny was taken to the centre and she was informed that she would be allowed to stay there for six months. But six months later she was in no position to leave and was allowed to stay for another six months.
When she finally left she was employed as a security guard and had managed to rent a house. Her baby stays in a 24/7 care centre which she pays for. Her daughter spends most of her time with a caregiver who gravitated towards her while they were staying in the home. Jenny says she sees her daughter on her days off, but she longs for the day when they are all back together.
She recalled that she was with the father of her children for four years. When she met him, she lived out of town with her mom, stepfather and her siblings, but travelled to the city for work.
“We start talking and he tell me instead of travelling back and forth how I could come and live by he. He say how he wouldn’t do me anything and for three months I stay in the house and he never trouble me. And then one day he come and ask for we to have a relationship and you know because of how nice he was and so, I say yes I would give it a try,” she shared.
At the time, the woman said, she was on birth control but after the man indicated he wanted a child she relented as she felt he was the one and it was a good time to start a family.
“But as soon as I get pregnant we start getting ups and downs. You know sometimes I would get relief from work late and he used to quarrel and say how I get man and all kinda thing. I try explaining to him what happening but he was not listening and we would start fighting and so. He used to come to my workplace and perform and you know I used to feel really shame and I just lef the work,” Jenny said.
She had taken the man to meet her mother who indicated that she did not believe the man was good for her, but Jenny said she told her mother she was old enough to choose for herself. She was then on bad terms with her mother and when she ended up on the streets she attempted to return to her mother’s home but was turned away.
“But now everything good between me and me mother and I happy with that,” she said.
Jenny said initially she did not want a second child and took steps to abort him but was not successful and then she decided to have him adopted. But months later no one adopted him and she decided to keep him.
“At first, I tell you it was hard because he look just like he father and it was hard for me to love him. But now I love he and me and he in the house,” she said.
She works for just about $70,000 and pays $12,000 for a one-bedroom house. “I get enough to pay the rent, pay daycare and buy food and so and still get to save a little,” she said.
And Jenny has plans for the future:
“I have a lot of plans. I want my own house. I put in for land. I don’t want to live in rent house all the time. And I don’t want to work with people all the time I want to be my own boss, maybe get a little shop. I want to have me own house with my two children.”
