Kimesha Walters
Published: Monday | November 30, 2009
A happy end might be in sight for a situation involving the Government's Possibilities Programme, which reportedly rejected a street boy brought in more than a week ago.
The case of the youngster was brought into the public sphere at a ceremony to mark 20 years after the Convention of the Rights of the Child, when youth advocate Tamian Beckford spoke on the issue.
Beckford, a former ward of the state, was upset that the boy had been rejected from a hostel at the Possibilities Programme, which was set up to help vulnerable boys, and is aimed at eliminating the need for any boy to live on the street.
Beckford said he was told the hostel was at capacity and could not take another child, even though he offered to pay for the youngster's expenses.
A seven-member panel, addressing the audience at the ceremony, was stunned into silence as Beckford related the case to them.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Olivia Grange, called an emergency meeting with the management of the Possibilities Programme, and in a release, said that the boy was now in the care and protection of the State. Additionally, the release said, "Arrangements are being made for him to be admitted into the hostel operated by the Possibilities Programme," and he will also be receiving skills training through the programme.
Refining policy
Grange noted that since the meeting, a team has set about refining and broadening the policy and procedure for admission tothe programme.
"The incident is unfortunate. I want to make it abundantly clear that none of our unattached youth who comes seeking help from any government service must be turned away, be made to feel ignored, or leave without assistance," said the release from the minister's office.
Grange said from her investi-gations, the procedures were followed, but the situation could have been handled with more sensitivity.
"The Possibilities Programme must offer safety, protection and empowerment to the unattached boys it was designed to serve," she added.
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