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Street boy drama at function on rights of child
BY INGRID BROWN Senior staff reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, November 23, 2009
CHILDREN'S advocates had the perfect opportunity to practise what they preach but were stumped when a 15-year-old street boy, desperate to get off the gritty streets of Kingston, showed up asking for help during a function last Friday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
CLARKE. there is a serious challenge in locating parents of street children
For a moment, the request stumped even those who were crying the loudest for children's rights to be recognised and for policies and laws to be enacted.
The street boy, Anthony, was the least expected guest at Friday's ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus, which had in attendance representatives of the ministries of health and education, the Jamaica Coalition on the Rights of the Child, the Correctional Services, Child Development Agency (CDA), non-government organisations and several students from high schools across Jamaica.
When youth advocate Tamian Beckford proceeded to highlight Andrew's plight during the discussion segment, the panel examining the strides made by Jamaica - 18 years after becoming a signatory to the convention - was stunned into silence as they had no immediate solution for his problem.
Children's Advocate Mary Clarke had only just presented a report on what had been done as well as outlining recommendations, when Beckford made his appeal.
But his demand for a solution to the youngster's plight caused an uncomfortable silence as no one from the six-member panel had a
ready response.
Clarke, when further pressed to respond to the boy's plight, said an investigator from her office had gone to the particular area in the Molynes Road/Marverly area where Anthony and other street boys frequent, and that attempts were being made to locate their families.
Irons-Morgan... I know that there are problems with children on the street and I think we need to have some sort of multiple disciplinary committee to address the problem because parents need to be held accountable and the police need to be involved
The aim, said Clarke, was not to institutionalise children but rather to reunite them with their families. However, she said, there was a serious challenge in locating parents.
Clarke said the institutions for children have been suffering from overcrowding and called for a roster of persons willing to serve as foster parents.
A very vocal Beckford told the audience that he had made several attempts to get Anthony into programmes like the Possibilities Project operated at the St Andrew Care Centre in Half-Way-Tree.
This programme, he explained, has a hostel and a skills training component which, he said, would be ideal for Anthony.
"I went there this morning (Friday) and they said that they had met their quota of 25, and I was so disheartened. But I asked them to bend it a little and myself and others from UNICEF would put the money together out of our own pockets to support him but they say they can't do that," a frustrated Beckford said.
Beckford said he had also tried to get the youngster in a HEART/NTA programme on Ripon Road in Kingston but he was asked to sit a mathematics and English entrance test, which he said was a challenge as a number of street children have not been to school in years.
"I want to really know what is happening with our street children," Beckford demanded of the panel.
"What is really the policy decision to move these kids forward and take them off the street?"
Beckford, himself a former street child, said that at age eight he had his own gun, but was later reformed. He questioned how many other street children will get that opportunity to be reformed.
A determined Beckford said he would not allow Anthony to spend another night on the street although he was fully aware that under the Child Care and Protection Act he could get in trouble for taking him to his home.
"Me nah let him back off at the stoplight at Molynes Road, so if it means him ago sleep ah my yard a suh it ago go because me nah carry him back because a foolishness a gwaan. The thing need to change," said Beckford.
After his impassioned plea, the panel members whispered among themselves for a few minutes with no one eagerly responding as they did to the other questions posed.
After chuckles from the audience, the representative from the Ministry of Education, Antoinette Brooks, broke the silence by pointing out that the ministry was extremely concerned about street children.
She, however, noted that some of the children did not want to be off the streets.
"I am thinking that the law is going to have to take its course because it means that there will have to be forced removal," she said.
Dr Maureen Irons-Morgan of the Ministry of Health, who also interjected, said it was difficult to interact with street children as many will provide incorrect information when questioned about the school they attend.
"I know that there are problems with children on the street and I think we need to have some sort of multiple disciplinary committee to address the problem because parents need to be held accountable and the police need to be involved," she said, adding that some street children would not remain in children's homes when they are taken there.
But Beckford later told the Observer that a number of children wanted to get off the streets but shied away from places of safety because of bad experiences they have had.
"If you are going to take children from their families saying that they are not being cared for properly, it means that you must provide the best example of care and show these parents that this is how you care for your child, but many of these places of safety are not in the proper condition so the children run away," he said.
Anthony, who has been living on the street for a year now, told the Observer: "Me just want change me life now."
Asked if he has family members he said "Yes but dem no care bout me."
Having not heard a solution from the panel, the dejected boy said "Me no know what me ago do now."
Fortunately for him the day seemed to be saved at least for now, as the CDA's director of policy and planning, Audrey Budhi, informed the audience that an investigator was on his way to begin the process of getting the boy into a facility.
Shortly after Allison Hickling, communication specialist at the United Nations Children's Fund, told the Observer that Anthony had been taken to a place of safety.
"Anthony was informed about the process and went willingly, with some apprehension at first, as you can imagine this move is scary for him," she said.
She explained further that the CDA would conduct an investigation to assess his situation as comprehensively as possible, even as they try to get an early court date to determine his subsequent placement.
BY INGRID BROWN Senior staff reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, November 23, 2009
CHILDREN'S advocates had the perfect opportunity to practise what they preach but were stumped when a 15-year-old street boy, desperate to get off the gritty streets of Kingston, showed up asking for help during a function last Friday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
CLARKE. there is a serious challenge in locating parents of street children For a moment, the request stumped even those who were crying the loudest for children's rights to be recognised and for policies and laws to be enacted.
The street boy, Anthony, was the least expected guest at Friday's ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus, which had in attendance representatives of the ministries of health and education, the Jamaica Coalition on the Rights of the Child, the Correctional Services, Child Development Agency (CDA), non-government organisations and several students from high schools across Jamaica.
When youth advocate Tamian Beckford proceeded to highlight Andrew's plight during the discussion segment, the panel examining the strides made by Jamaica - 18 years after becoming a signatory to the convention - was stunned into silence as they had no immediate solution for his problem.
Children's Advocate Mary Clarke had only just presented a report on what had been done as well as outlining recommendations, when Beckford made his appeal.
But his demand for a solution to the youngster's plight caused an uncomfortable silence as no one from the six-member panel had a
ready response.
Clarke, when further pressed to respond to the boy's plight, said an investigator from her office had gone to the particular area in the Molynes Road/Marverly area where Anthony and other street boys frequent, and that attempts were being made to locate their families.
Irons-Morgan... I know that there are problems with children on the street and I think we need to have some sort of multiple disciplinary committee to address the problem because parents need to be held accountable and the police need to be involved The aim, said Clarke, was not to institutionalise children but rather to reunite them with their families. However, she said, there was a serious challenge in locating parents.
Clarke said the institutions for children have been suffering from overcrowding and called for a roster of persons willing to serve as foster parents.
A very vocal Beckford told the audience that he had made several attempts to get Anthony into programmes like the Possibilities Project operated at the St Andrew Care Centre in Half-Way-Tree.
This programme, he explained, has a hostel and a skills training component which, he said, would be ideal for Anthony.
"I went there this morning (Friday) and they said that they had met their quota of 25, and I was so disheartened. But I asked them to bend it a little and myself and others from UNICEF would put the money together out of our own pockets to support him but they say they can't do that," a frustrated Beckford said.
Beckford said he had also tried to get the youngster in a HEART/NTA programme on Ripon Road in Kingston but he was asked to sit a mathematics and English entrance test, which he said was a challenge as a number of street children have not been to school in years.
"I want to really know what is happening with our street children," Beckford demanded of the panel.
"What is really the policy decision to move these kids forward and take them off the street?"
Beckford, himself a former street child, said that at age eight he had his own gun, but was later reformed. He questioned how many other street children will get that opportunity to be reformed.
A determined Beckford said he would not allow Anthony to spend another night on the street although he was fully aware that under the Child Care and Protection Act he could get in trouble for taking him to his home.
"Me nah let him back off at the stoplight at Molynes Road, so if it means him ago sleep ah my yard a suh it ago go because me nah carry him back because a foolishness a gwaan. The thing need to change," said Beckford.
After his impassioned plea, the panel members whispered among themselves for a few minutes with no one eagerly responding as they did to the other questions posed.
After chuckles from the audience, the representative from the Ministry of Education, Antoinette Brooks, broke the silence by pointing out that the ministry was extremely concerned about street children.
She, however, noted that some of the children did not want to be off the streets.
"I am thinking that the law is going to have to take its course because it means that there will have to be forced removal," she said.
Dr Maureen Irons-Morgan of the Ministry of Health, who also interjected, said it was difficult to interact with street children as many will provide incorrect information when questioned about the school they attend.
"I know that there are problems with children on the street and I think we need to have some sort of multiple disciplinary committee to address the problem because parents need to be held accountable and the police need to be involved," she said, adding that some street children would not remain in children's homes when they are taken there.
But Beckford later told the Observer that a number of children wanted to get off the streets but shied away from places of safety because of bad experiences they have had.
"If you are going to take children from their families saying that they are not being cared for properly, it means that you must provide the best example of care and show these parents that this is how you care for your child, but many of these places of safety are not in the proper condition so the children run away," he said.
Anthony, who has been living on the street for a year now, told the Observer: "Me just want change me life now."
Asked if he has family members he said "Yes but dem no care bout me."
Having not heard a solution from the panel, the dejected boy said "Me no know what me ago do now."
Fortunately for him the day seemed to be saved at least for now, as the CDA's director of policy and planning, Audrey Budhi, informed the audience that an investigator was on his way to begin the process of getting the boy into a facility.
Shortly after Allison Hickling, communication specialist at the United Nations Children's Fund, told the Observer that Anthony had been taken to a place of safety.
"Anthony was informed about the process and went willingly, with some apprehension at first, as you can imagine this move is scary for him," she said.
She explained further that the CDA would conduct an investigation to assess his situation as comprehensively as possible, even as they try to get an early court date to determine his subsequent placement.