CARISA LEE
Reporter
carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt
The Children’s Authority is denying that the Cyril Ross Children’s Home along El Dorado Road, Tunapuna, closed due to licensing delays.
The home was opened in 1994 to care for children living with HIV/AIDS.
In a media release, Children's Authority director Sheldon Cyrus said the home held a conditional licence up to its voluntary closure on December 31.
He said this allowed the home to operate and provide residential care to children.
Last week, National President of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, Nigel Phillips, told Guardian Media that after three years of improving the facility based on the authority’s requirements, a full licence was still not obtained. He added that it became too expensive for the home to remain open.
"We would have brought it up to the standards, so every time we go back, it is something different...It’s like pulling teeth, as the old people say, trying to get a meeting with the Children’s Authority or to have a discussion on how we go forward," he said.
Phillips said while he understands that the Children’s Authority has a mandate, he believes three years is too long, as NGOs need collaboration, not silence, especially with so many children waiting to be placed in an institution.
According to the Children’s Community Residences (Children’s Homes) Regulations 2018, there are 33 requirements for the licensing of a Children’s Home.
Contrary to Phillips, Cyrus said when the authority learned that the home was closing, efforts were made to change that decision, but the society maintained the operation was no longer viable.
He acknowledged the Home’s three decades of service and noted the society could apply for future licensure if it chooses to reopen.
Also commenting on the closure, Minister of the People, Social Development and Family Services Vandana Mohit said her ministry is ensuring the Children’s Authority enforces compliance requirements for children’s homes, while remaining open to collaboration with stakeholders.
