Crystal Children’s Home given
eviction notice to move Jan 15
~ Children will be thrown on the streets if speedy solution not found ~
By Judy H. Fitzpatrick
ST. JOHN’S--Sixteen orphaned teens and an eight-year-old are among the residents of Crystal Children’s Home who may very well end up on the streets if a speedy solution is not found for their housing situation by Tuesday, January15.
Multi-Purpose Organisation (MPO), which is responsible for the home, has been given an eviction notice by the owners demanding that they vacate the St. John’s premises by next Tuesday. The home, which is financed primarily by community sponsorship, is in three months’ arrears with its US $3,500 per month rent – a total of US $10,500.
MPO officials have been hunting for alternative accommodation since they received the eviction notice in June last year, but to no avail.
Directress of the home Eva Williams said the original intention was to secure a plot of land to construct a proper facility, but MPO has been informed that the plot it had identified had already been earmarked for other purposes.
One alternative is an eight-bedroom home that is up for sale in the St. John’s area, a stone’s throw from where the home is currently housed, but this property costs US $850,000 – some US $405,556 more than the funds allocated for the home under the harbour shares buyback programme.
Williams said this eight-bedroom building would be a good buy, as it had been refurbished recently and would accommodate the children comfortably.
Williams and long-time volunteer Barbara Hodge are both concerned about the situation, as the wellbeing of 17 youngsters is at risk. She said the relevant authorities had been notified about the situation in June last year, but no commitment had been made regarding aiding the home with the additional financing needed.
“If we could somehow get the balance to purchase the house things would be much better,” said Williams. “We know everyone may think we can’t be put on the streets, but they had given us six months notice. This is more than enough.”
“I just want to see a solution in place,” added Hodge. “And the solution has to do with getting money. There are a lot of good people in St. Maarten who donate food and clothing to the home, but we also need to pay off our rent and we need help fast.”
Financing
With no structured means of financing in place and no laws regulating their operations, foster homes are always battling to secure funds. It costs about NAf. 30,000 to run Crystal Children’s Home per month, the bulk of which is secured through donors.
The Court of Guardianship pays a standard fee for each child referred to foster care by the Foundation for Family Services, but with only few children referred to the two established facilities (the other being the I Can Foundation foster home that was destroyed by fire in August 2007) it’s not nearly enough to cover the cost.
Through the harbour shares buyback initiative, NAf. 1.6 million was allocated to Crystal and I Can Foundation to execute specific projects. Crystal had always maintained that it would use its portion of the funds to purchase or construct its own home, which would save on the high rent it now pays.
It also had wanted to use a portion of the funds to train staff in caring for foster children and to set up a programme to provide skills training to aid in the independence of those about to age-out of the institution. But given its current situation, this goal is not likely to be achieved from this source of funding.
Unregulated
The foster care system in St. Maarten remains unregulated, in spite of efforts made over the last 10 years to change the situation. As a result, the homes do not yet qualify for Central Government funding.
Head of the Court of Guardianship Joel Arndell had told this reporter in an earlier interview that some of the existing facilities that catered to foster children were only “halfway houses” providing basic housing services.
Antillean Justice Minister David Dick, under whose portfolio foster care falls, placed the “Care Contract” for foster facilities in the hands of the Court of Guardianship in August 2006 for handling. However, the sector remains unregulated.
Dick had said during a meeting of Parliament in St. Maarten last November that foster homes weren’t cooperating to sign the Care Contract. He said too that while the homes had to comply with certain requirements before they could qualify for funding, none of them had met the requirements.
The Care Contract will stipulate the amount the Central Government will pay per foster child and set standards to bring about some sort of regulation to the sector. But while this is likely to be good news, with the island headed for a new constitutional status, the position of these homes in the equation is still unknown.
More than 40 children, most of whom are immigrants or children born in St. Maarten to immigrant parents, had been referred to the foster care system in St. Maarten up to last year, but Arndell had told this reporter that because of the large immigrant population, the problem of neglected children in the community was much more serious.
In addition to the two established children’s homes – Crystal and I Can – there are five foster parents and a family that cater to orphaned and neglected children here.
Crystal
As the adults battle to secure financing to keep a roof over their heads, looking at the faces of the 17 youngsters at Crystal Children’s Home one would not have the impression that there was a problem.
The home had existed for quite some time under a different foundation, but was taken over by Multi-Purpose Organisation operating as Crystal Children’s Home in 2001. Crystal caters to orphaned or neglected children from 0-18 years, with an emphasis on teens during the critical years when they are most in need of adult support, supervision and love.
Most of the children in the home are of Dutch nationality, but some are Haitians. Some were placed to remove them from abusive situations; others are there due to neglect or the death of a parent.
Williams had always contended that while it was not easy dealing with teens, she was proud that despite the challenges, most of the children were doing well in school. Her goal is for the home to reach a professional level to be able to accommodate more children in need. She is proud of those who have passed through Crystal Children’s Home and wants them to give back, for others to benefit from the same care.
Interested donors can contact Williams at tel. 580-7715 or House Mother Rachel Mardenborough at tel. 553-4006, or email
evangerline_m@hotmail.com.
