by Curlan Campbell
- 12-month Foster Carer Recruitment Drive launched
- Over 200 children already in state alternative care
- Foster care parents must not use corporal punishment to discipline
Cultural norms and traditional beliefs surrounding corporal punishment have proved to be a significant barrier preventing people in Grenada from engaging in foster care.
The growing problem of children in need of alternative foster care in Grenada continues to challenge the government, policymakers, and social work agencies. The Child Protection Authority (CPA), the statutory body mandated by law to respond and report cases of child abuse and neglect in Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique, has embarked on a Foster Care Recruitment drive in response to the growing number of children in State alternative foster care.
The need for foster carers is urgent. There are over 200 children already in foster care, many of whom come from dysfunctional homes and have experienced abuse, neglect, and other forms of maltreatment.
The Authority is launching a 12-month Foster Carer Recruitment Drive to help enlist families to provide loving homes for children in need. Adoption is typically a more permanent, long-term solution where new caregivers have full legal parental responsibility. Foster care is usually a temporary placement of a child in the care of an adult who cares for that child until such time deemed fit by the local authority to reunite that child with their biological parent. However, the drive to encourage foster care will prove to be a challenge as the idea of foster care and adoption is not culturally popular among Grenadians for several reasons. One issue surrounds the method of correcting bad behaviour among children using corporal punishment, which goes against the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
According to the CPA, based on feedback, Grenadians are not enthusiastic about providing foster care, since one requirement is that foster care parents must adhere to the strict rule prohibiting the use of corporal punishment as instilling discipline.
“We have to take into consideration that the children we have in care come with behavioural issues. Some are severe, and some of the feedback we get from people is that they can’t take care of their own, much less to take care of other people’s children with all the external baggage. Also, based on the laws of UNICEF which CPA is a part of, we have a no corporal punishment mandate. So in terms of beating, we do not sanction that at all, and based on our culture in Grenada, we would not stand for that, so people will put up a block”, said Adoption Officer Louanna Joseph John.
Although there is a foster care allowance that goes directly to the children, another major barrier to foster care is the lack of financial incentive to encourage foster carers. “There is a $500 foster care allowance that goes directly to the children. If it’s kinship or blood related then it is $300, but the foster carers are not being paid,” she said.
Despite this obvious hurdle, the CPA is optimistic that its campaign drive will yield results. On Friday, the Foster Care Recruitment Drive started in front of Foodland Supermarket on Kirani James Boulevard.
In cases of abuse or neglect, CPA may remove children from their parents while they receive counselling support, and will attempt to place them with another family that meets the standards of being able to provide an adequate environment for raising the child.
There are several requirements to qualify as a foster carer. “You have to be between the ages of 21 and 70; and also, there are several background checks that have to be completed before you can be an approved foster carer, for example, a police record. Also, we would have to do community checks, and if there are other adults in the home we would also have to do background and community checks on those people as well,” Joseph John said.
Under the theme “You Can Foster”, plans are in place to sensitise and engage various communities in the coming weeks through this Foster Care Recruitment Drive, which would include radio and television appearance by the CPA, walkabouts, and community forums.
i would love to foster am very opened to do so , also i can’t have anymore kids so why not take care of one without.
would love to.
Honestly. I think that fostering children is a big “ask” in Grenada. The reason: increasingly, there are so many families with “problem children” of their own. Also, almost all husbands and wives are forced to both work full time to make two ends meet. So, time wise, where will even well-intentioned families find the time to “Foster” anyone? Sad. But that is the reality of the material world we now live in.
It is easy to talk about fostering but we have some major issues with doing such.
Grenadians will be reluctant to take on a child with behaviour problems.
Most family are struggling with their own children so it would be a big problem taking on a foster child when there is little or no incentive .
I think the government should focus on helping these children family in trying to keep the ones that can be helped to stay with their families.
The ones they are not able to help in that way then you look at other means in assisting them .
Address poverty and housing issues first and give support to the natural parents. You are very ignorant if you believe children put into foster homes are not abused sexually, physically, mentally. Often the foster children are treated worse in foster homes. They are treated as less valuable than their own children. Money us the WRONG incentive as this breeds contempt on behalf of the foster parents who see the children as a source of income and nothing more.
Jen Jen you are so right…its about Love and Care which Caribbean people had for each other children.
I remember growing up two and three families with a mix two and three families of 8, 10 or 12 children ….would all be living in a single old two room board house and being adopted or taken care of by a relative…. because the parent had gone to England, America and Canada.
Back then it took years for parents to find a place in foreign and to save up the fare/passage to send for their children.
The headline mentions Culture, and Caribbean people through MSM have become more like British and Americans culturally, who view family as a burden.
They don’t even want to look after their own parents who gave them life, once they get old but look to dump them in a old people home.
Its a tough issue because these are tough times, however you need people who genuinely care about the children in their care and not see them as Cash Cows and ripe for abuse as the Fostering Racket have become at times. Financial support is essential for a child under care.
The list of children Aborted or thrown on the scrap heap by parents who dont care is long and includes Louis Armstrong, John Lennon , Marilyn Monroe, Jamie Foxx and Steve Jobs, etc. Individuals who then went on to be gaints after their parents dumped them.