Children’s Homes That Need To Be Licensed Have Three Months To Complete Process

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Robert Morgan, says children’s homes that need to be licensed, now have three months to complete the process.

Speaking at an educational awards ceremony for top students in State care on January 29, at the Terra Nova Hotel, in St. Andrew, Mr. Morgan said the facilities must be updated with all the necessary requirements for them to be operational.

He pointed out that several homes are having challenges in getting their licences, and the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), has given them the time to meet the agency’s rules.

“What the CPFSA has decided to do is to work with them over the next three months to ensure that every single children’s facility in Jamaica fulfills the requirements to be licensed,” he said.

The State Minister outlined that the requirements have to do with: fire safety, police reports on persons who are working in the homes, and inspection reports by the health authorities, “to ensure that the homes are in good condition, capable of housing our young citizens.”

He added that after the three-month period, the agency hopes that it will not have to “go to the next step” of being forced to deal with noncompliant facilities.

“This is a commitment that I am making. Whatever I can do to prevent another child dying in a home, it is something that I am very committed to,” Mr. Morgan said.

He also reported that the Child Care and Protection Act will be amended, to prevent situations where the courts can designate children as uncontrollable, and thereafter they are placed in juvenile centres.

“We have homes that can provide psychosocial remedial help to assist these young people in resocialisation, and I am going to push, as hard as possible, that no child can be designated as uncontrollable and get a detention order to be locked in a juvenile facility,” the State Minister emphasised.