Two children's homes damaged during Hurricane Melissa

  

Two children's homes were damaged during the passage of Hurricane Melissa and will be relocated. 

 

Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information Dr. Dana Morris Dixon said all children in homes are accounted for and efforts are being made to contact those who were placed with foster families.

 

"In terms of children who are in state care, but may be in private homes, like in the foster care programme, the CPFSA (Child Protection and Family Services Agency) has been asked to reach every single family. That has been difficult with the telecommunication challenges that we have, but they have been actively reaching out to the families of the foster children. But all children in our children's homes are accounted for and they're all safe," she stressed.

 

Dr. Morris Dixon said continued psychosocial support is being provided for teachers and students.

 

She reminded parents and guardians that the impact of the hurricane on children may not be immediately visible.

 

"We've been getting a lot of assistance from entities like UNICEF and our counselling group has been working very hard with our teachers and with the entire school community in terms of talking through all of these things. And the trauma is real. It's real, real trauma and some of it will not manifest right away, which is what we keep reminding our stakeholders, that children will seem okay and it will be months down the line that you will start to see the signs of problems. So we are very alert to it and our counselling teams, our guidance counsellors across the system are working with our schools to ensure that we provide the adequate support that they can," she said. 

 

Dr. Morris Dixon was speaking at a special media briefing on Hurricane Melissa on Wednesday.