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$220M Sophia Children and Family centre to open by month end
Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally yesterday led a team visit to the newly constructed $220 Million Children and Family Centre at Plum Park, Sophia Georgetown.
The facility, the first of its kind locally will serve as a temporary stop for the less fortunate and is expected to be commissioned by the end of March.
“I must say, that I am pleased with the work carried out thus far and that our children will be provided with the much-needed comfort come March,” Minister Ally said.
The newly constructed $220 Million Children and Family Centre at Plum Park, Sophia Georgetown
In July 2016, a fire gutted the previous Drop-In Centre on Hadfield Street, Georgetown. However, this newly constructed facility will have heightened safety measures.
Director of the Childcare and Protection Agency, Ann Greene, said the facility’s purpose is to avoid separation of families and provide care for children as they transition from difficult circumstances.
“There are eight family apartments, independent family apartments for families. There are also four apartments for children of different ages, for boys and girls, and there is a training centre for counselling sessions.
“We do not want to just provide housing for persons that will be here at the facility but ensure they received every other necessity to help them transform,” the Director of Childcare and Protection Agency, Ann Greene said
House mother, Norma Hamilton, who cares for children exposed to all sorts of abuse is the supervisor of Sophia Drop-In Centre.
According to Norma her main priority is to ensure that the children housed at the facility, receive the necessary love, care and attention they need.
“I am proud of the children that left the Drop-In Centre … There are children, who would have become nurses, teachers, even a paramedic and there is one presently studying to become an Agronomist. We have different careers and I am proud of them, some I sent to be trained at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre and they are doing their own jobs”
“We have children who are there with lots and lots of problems, because of abuse, because of so many things we take for granted as parents. As their support, you have to be an individual that is cohesive, tolerant, patient and kind so you can help them to be what they want to be, help them to develop self-esteem,”
She has been in the profession for more than five years and emphasised that her job demands a positive personality and a strong mindset.
“For example, when we have a new intake, a child might throw tantrums and display all sorts of behaviour. There are children who may have lived an abusive life and try to bring it into our domain and the challenge is to get that child to be comfortable and understand that they are in a different environment and that there are rules and regulations they must abide by.”
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