— some 700 abandoned children live in orphanages

By Svetlana Marshal
THERE are in excess of 700 abused and abandoned children living in orphanages across Guyana, but the alarming figure can be reduced significantly if persons take up the mantle of becoming foster parents.

Since 2009, the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) has managed to put approximately 200 children in foster homes.
Due to lack of foster parents, they are institutionalised in 23 homes, much to the dissatisfaction of the agency and the Social Protection Ministry.
“Too many children are being institutionalised,” Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence said, adding that it is not good for a child to grow up from a tender age until adulthood in an orphanage. Hence, she said the need for foster parents is great.
“To become a foster parent doesn’t mean permanently parenting a child, but is filling a gap until the process of reunification is completed.”

CURBING MANY SOCIAL PROBLEMS
In taking up such a challenge, the Social Protection Minister said persons would directly and indirectly help to curb many of the social problems facing society.
“We are trying to decrease crimes committed by our young people and the decay in morals… and foster care can help. They can enjoy a family relationship, share love, and have someone to talk to and to explore all the possibilities of being a child and growing up normal.”
The minister was at the time speaking to the Guyana Chronicle at a Fun Day held at the YMCA ground on Saturday to mark the end of Foster Care Month, which is observed annually in the month of November.

“We are trying to decrease crime committed by our young people and the decay in morals…and foster care can help. They can enjoy a family relationship, share love, and have someone to talk to and to explore all the possibilities of being a child and growing up normal” – Social Protection Minister

CCPA Administrative Manager of the Foster Care Department, Colleen Khan, who was also present at the event which allowed foster children to bond with their guardians, explained that foster care in Guyana was instituted approximately five years ago with the aim of reducing the high number of children who are institutionalised.

Children are often removed from their primary caregivers because they were abused or faced the likelihood of being a victim of abuse, whether it is a case of physical or sexual abuse, neglect or abandonment.
“Foster care is an alternative arrangement for children who would have been removed from their biological homes for a variety of reasons. It gives them that family base,” she further explained.

IT’S NOT AN ADOPTION
The process of becoming a foster parent is very simple, since it is not an adoption and does not require the legal process of going to the court to get custody of a child. Any person desirous of becoming a foster parent would need to complete an application form provided by the agency before a home study and visit are done.
Additionally, the agency would conduct criminal and medical checks on the applicant before an appointment is made with the CCPA Director.
The director has the authority to approve or disapprove the application based on the findings. However, if the approval is granted, the applicant will be placed on a foster care register before being matched with a child from one of the residential homes.

MONTHLY STIPEND
“After placement, each case is assigned to an officer who is tasked with monitoring the child on a monthly basis. A monthly stipend is given which amounts to $18,000 per month,” Khan explained, while adding that programmes have been established to offer additional support.
According to her, children are often fostered for a period of three to six months before the process of reunification takes place. However, there are times when children would remain within their foster homes for more than a year.
The Guyana Chronicle caught up with one of the parents who has been fostering children for more than four years. Melanie Writes, a 39-year-old officer of the Guyana Police Force, said she was inspired to become a foster parent approximately four years ago, having read about three children who were abandoned by their mother.
Writes upon reading the story contacted the CCPA with the hope of caring for the specific group which included a baby, but instead was matched with two other children, “a blessing in disguise,” for her.
At the time, the children were ages two and four. They were taken to the agency by their grandmother, who at the time had indicated that she was unable to care for them. Their mother reportedly made “trips into the interior.”
Writes said fostering those two children, who only this year were reunited with their parents, allowed her the opportunity to teach them how to read and write.
“I taught them how to read and trained and groomed them for society,” she added.
By mid-2015, Writes opted to foster again, this time a three-year-old boy. Based on her investigation, his mother has seven children, including him and begs for a living.