Safety first - CDA steps up state care services after Coroner’s Court blames officials for 2012 teen suicide
Published:Friday | June 24, 2016 | 12:58 PMNadine Wilson-Harris
Days after a Coroner's Court ruled that the 2012 death of Vanessa Wint's in state care "was caused by suicide, by hanging, due in part by the neglect of the authorities of Horizon Adult Remand Centre to place her under suicide watch and take measures to protect her from self-harm ...," the Child Development Agency (CDA) has issued a call for bids from consultants to review the residential care sector in Jamaica.
State Minister for Education, Youth and Information Floyd Green recently promised that a review of the services offered to children in the care of the State would be a priority for his ministry. He announced that this is expected to be completed by December.
"We are looking at the whole pie - the disparity between financial support of the government homes and private homes - to see how we can ensure that our children are able to access the best possible service," the junior minister announced earlier during his contribution to the 2016-17 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives.
Since taking up office, Green has embarked on several familiarisation tours of various residential care facilities and has asked the CDA to suggest ways the Government can help privately run homes alleviate some of their financial challenges.
FINDING THE GAPS
According to Green, when completed, the review should give an idea of the gaps and factors impacting the sector and help to determine the resources needed to guarantee an effective, efficient and modernised residential sector.
"It has been agreed that the disaster-management grant that is normally provided to the government homes will be extended to our private homes as well this year. We also will be standardising the payment of the medical expenses of all our children in state care, whether Government or privately run homes," Green said.
Jamaica now has eight government childcare facilities and provides oversight and funding to more than 40 private homes.
While the bid for consultancy services, which was advertised in the June 19 edition of The Saturday Gleaner, called for consultants for the review of the Child Protection Sector operations and programmes, executive director of CDA, Rosalee Gage-Grey, last week, provided clarity on what she described as an error.
According to Gage-Grey, the eligibility rules and other requirements that were published in the advertisement still apply to those interested in bidding to review the residential care sector.
Only tax compliant consultants will be considered and the bids will be opened at the CDA's 48 Duke Street head office on July 7.
Bid documents became available last Monday and are available at a cost of $2,000.
In order to be eligible, bidders need to satisfy a number of eligibility requirements such as having an advanced university degree in an area of the social sciences or related discipline, having a minimum of seven years of professional experience working at the national and/or international levels in child and social protection, and having a sound knowledge of early childhood development and care transitioning.
The inquest into the death of 16-year-old Wint was convened in 2013 after the Office of the Children's Advocate's (OCA) call for action and mounting public outrage from local human-rights and civic society groups raised numerous concerns about the safety of teens being then housed in adult correctional facilities.
The hearing began in February 2016, and, since then, the OCA has been a keen participant in the proceedings with a view of ensuring that though the child is deceased, her interest was independently represented.
According to the OCA, it also tried to ensure that an affirmative decision would be made by the coroner to ensure that lapses of this nature, which led to the child's death, would never recur.