Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
Vivian Crawford (left) converses with Ruby Martin (second left), chairperson of the Maxfield Park Children's Home during the home's exhibition and open day held on Thursday. Also present are Rachel Powery, Julie Ebanks and Cita Crowe, members of the Weslyan Holiness Church of Grand Cayman's mission of mercy outreach, who made a contribution to the home. - ANDREW SMITH/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
THE GOVERNMENT has taken steps to address deficiencies in the care provided by state-run children's homes. This, according to Dr. Donald Rhodd, state minister for education, youth and culture, who was speaking during Open Day at the Maxfield Park Children's Home, yesterday.
Problems in state-run children's home were highlighted in 2003, prompting government to set up a committee led by former Permanent Secretary Sadie Keating, to investigate allegations of sexual and other forms of abuse. As a consequence of the committee's findings, charges were recently brought against two employees of two children's homes.
SOCIAL WORKERS
Dr. Rhodd pointed to efforts being made by the Government to curb the problems including the recruitment of 60 new social workers and child officers.
"There are also monitoring officers ... accountable on the issue of the quality of care supplied to wards of the state," he reported. "There is now regular monitoring of children's homes and places of safety through a combination of scheduled and impromptu visits, during which children will be given a chance to speak with monitoring agents," he explained.
Recently, the island's first-ever service manual, outlining how children's homes should be operated, was published.
KEY AREAS
Dr. Rhodd identified key areas the Government has been concerned with. These include child rights advocacy and monitoring of child rights violation, street children and juvenile justice, family tracing, and reintegration of separated children.
He admitted problems facing the homes were numerous. According to the 2003 report, 37 per cent of a sample of 42 children taken from 42 children's homes suffered from either hearing, vision or speech impairment; learning or physical disabilities, or a combination of all these challenges. Another concern is that in some homes, there is a 10:1 ratio of wards to caregivers.
Dr. Rhodd praised the staff of the Maxfield Park home for their dedication and implored the staff of similar institutions to follow their example.
