THE Board of Hope Children’s Home takes this opportunity to respond to the articles that were published in the Kaieteur News on the 3rd, 4th & 6th of June respectively.
This institution was established in 2001 and has provided care to over 70 children that have been abused, abandoned and orphaned.  A number of these children have mental and physical illnesses that require special care.
We will now deal with accusations or statements that were presented in the newspapers:

The reporter wrote that a girl from the home was taken by the Director K. Finlayson to have an abortion.

This is false and baseless statement, as the girl was taken to a medical clinic based upon a directive from Human Services Ministry to have necessary tests and examinations to ascertain her condition.

It was stated that a teacher at Hope Christian Academy physically assaulted a child in the school and caused him actual bodily harm.

The Police were called in to investigate this matter, even though we knew that the accusation was false and a misrepresentation to discredit the teacher and the school.

All incidents and problems are reported forthwith to the Ministry of Human Services.

A Social Worker and Inspector from the said Ministry have been attached to the Home after the probe.

What the reporter omitted was the fact that the account referred to was frozen even before the previous administrator departed these shores.

There were some of the signatories to this account that were no longer affiliated with the Home, so an active account operating in this manner cannot be maintained.

When this was sorted out and the Supporters of the Home tried to reactivate the account, they were told that it can only be done when the Board is fully constituted.

Note:  It is the same supporters [Vero Beach Church of Christ] who are still fully supporting the Home at this present time.

Upon the sudden departure of the previous administrator in 2007, the Ministry of Human Services ordered a probe into the operations of the home.

This probe was done and it was found that the home was not conforming to the basic standard and guidelines and as such an Interim Board was appointed.

New rules were drafted and amendments were made to the existing rules and the Home is presently awaiting the acceptance of these rules for the fully constituted Board to be installed.

No new investigation was ordered, as indicated in the KN article.

KN stated that the new administrator was fired because of her discovery of irregularities at the Home, which the Director is trying to cover up.

These irregularities were already highlighted by the probe that was ordered and conducted by the relevant agencies.

The Home was in the process of implementing the “Minimum Standards” as required by the Ministry, and so an Administrator was involved with the Home and the normal probationary rule was applied.

However, during the probationary period of this individual during which coincided with the Minimum Standards being implemented, there was a marked deterioration in the behavioral pattern of the children and they became extremely violent even injuring a caregiver in the process.

At no time was it stated that the Administrator was responsible for this change in behavior of the children.

The Church of Christ in Guyana is in no way involved in the operation or running of this Home as was implied by KN.

It is a private Home overseen by The Vero Beach Church of Christ {USA}, and to whom monthly financial statements are submitted and verified before funds are released.