July deadline for homes

■ Kay-Marie Fletcher

kay-marie.fletcher@trinidadexpress.com

THIRTEEN children's homes have been given an extension of three months to get their act together before the Government makes a proclamation preventing all unlicensed homes from operating.

After promising on several occasions a decision on the proclamation of sections 3 (1) and (2), and 17 of the Children's Community Residences, Foster care and Nurseries Act by March 31, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister responsible for Gender and Child Affairs Ayanna Webster-Roy yesterday announced a new date of July 1.

Speaking during a virtual news conference, Webster-Roy revealed that 13 of the 37 children's homes in operation are still unregistered but the children are being well taken care of. This means that 214 children including migrants and children with disabilities remain in unlicensed homes. According to figures given by Webster- Roy, at present there are 65 children at the St Jude's School for Girls; 43 at St Mary's Children's Home; 17 at Mary Care Centre; 13 at Lady Hochoy Home; 12 each at the Transitional Home for Migrant Girls and Casa De Corazon; 11 each at Jairah/Raffa House and Ferndean's Place Children's home; ten children at Chickland Children's home; nine at Joshua Home for Boys; six at Cyril Ross Nursery; three at Operation Smile and two at Marian House.

However, the minister reassured the public that the homes are consistently being monitored by the Children's Authority to ensure the safety and well-being of the children.

She said the majority of homes are near a state of readiness and until then the proclamation will be delayed in the best interest of the children.

Webster-Roy said, 'Given the nature of the work to be done at some of the other homes, it is likely to take up to two months to be completed. The reality is that, upon proclamation, no unlicensed home will be allowed to operate. The Children's Authority of Trinidad and Tobago will then be required to remove all children from unlicensed homes immediately upon proclamation and to identify spaces for their placement.

'Having carefully examined all the factors relating to this matter including the estimated time for all homes to complete the work required to be licensed, it is the view of the Government that it may not be in the best interest of the children at this time to seek to separate them from their familiar environment which will inevitably result in a level of disruption which may be detrimental to their well-being,' she said. 'In addition, there are some homes which are accommodating special groups of children such as children with disabilities and identification of alternative accommodation for these children will pose a challenge. In light of these considerations, we recognise the need for additional time for the homes to complete the works which have already begun in order to enable them to meet the licensing requirements. The new time frame for proclamation barring any unforeseen circumstances is July 1, 2023,' she added.

Robust childcare

In order for these homes to meet the requirement for being licensed, the Government allocated $2.5 million in the fiscal 2023 budget to assist with infrastructural issues, according to Webster-Roy.

Additionally, the ministry instructed the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service and public health authorities to prioritise the inspection of these homes and expedite their reports.

Nevertheless eight of the 13 homes remain between 61 and 85 per cent near readiness while five are over 90 per cent near readiness.

Licensing aside, the minister also said a lot of work has been done to ensure that there is a robust childcare and protection system to ensure that three is no repeat of reports of abuse of children while at these homes.

However, if history repeats itself and there are homes still unregistered at the time of proclamation, then they will have to be absorbed by the children's homes that have been. There will also be alternative placement such as the Kinship Care policy and foster care to assist in housing the displaced children.

Though unsuccessful in meeting her self-imposed deadline of March 31, Webster-Roy said she remains optimistic that, come July 1, all children's homes across the country will be licensed, thus there will be no need to relocate the children.

THREE-MONTH EXTENSION: Ayanna Webster-Roy