SOS Children’s Village faces bleak future - CPFSA’s acting regional director ­appeals for help from corporate ­Jamaica

WESTERN BUREAU:

Erick Vassell, acting regional director for the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), says if the nation’s two SOS Children’s Villages are forced to close their doors in the near future, it will severely impact the already chronic shortage of available space in which to house and care for children in state care.

The SOS Children’s Village, which is a ­private, non-profit, non-political and non-­denominational welfare organisation, is facing challenges, as with its international donor stocks in Europe now concentrating on Africa and Asia, it will now have to ­generate its own funding to keep its villages at Barrett Town, St James, and Stony Hill, St Andrew, operational.

“Things are not as bright as it was before and we may be losing some spaces,” said Vassell, in speaking to the challenges facing the villages which were founded in 1970 as an initiative of Dr Harland Hastings, land developer John Rollins and Professor Heinz Simonitsch, to offer orphaned and ­abandoned children a permanent home.

“The only home [St John Basco Children’s Home] that could compare with SOS Children’s Village has closed its doors, so there is always a need for space for our children who have been abused, abandoned, orphaned, neglected, or by some means disenfranchised,” said Vassell.

The St John Basco Children’s Home, which operated for 59 years and catered for upwards of 100 children between eight and 18 years old in Mandeville, Manchester, was forced to close down its residential care facilities approximately two years ago. Some 50 spaces were reserved at that facility for children with cases in the court system.

A similar situation occurred at the Alpha Boys’ Home in Kingston, in the same time frame as John Basco, as they ceased residential care and have since moved into institution operation, teaching music and the performing arts.

Vassell, who has oversight responsibilities for the operations and offices of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency in St James, Trelawny, Hanover and Westmoreland, said of the entire children’s homes and childcare facilities in Jamaica, the SOS Children’s Village carries the largest number of room spaces, and the closure of St John Basco and Alpha boys’ homes has placed a greater demand on its spaces.

In appealing for donations from corporate Jamaica towards helping the SOS Children’s Villages to raise the funding needed to sustain its operations in the drive to become self-sufficient, Vassell said the SOS is blessed with rich, inspiring ­stories of success, coupled with a tradition in providing excellent care for those ­persons it has served.

“SOS Children’s Villages provide a home, not only for the children when they are at the village, but what is unique about SOS is the aftercare that they provide for the children when they leave the village,” noted Vassell.