Getting children's homes right

In a meeting with the Children's Authority on Wednesday, Roman Catholic Archbishop Jason Gordon called on the State to do more to help children's homes managed by the church.

That hope is likely to be echoed by the owners and managers of 13 homes that remain non-compliant with the Children's Community Residences, Foster Homes and Nurseries Act, 2000, which sets baseline expectations of homes housing children in the care of the State.

The Children's Authority lists 24 licensed community residences on its website.

Unlicensed community residences face a fine of $10,000 and a continuing penalty of $500 per day for each day they continue business without complying with the act.

That these homes, created to care for children, were having difficulty meeting the very basic requirements set for a community residence is cause for concern.

After ominous warnings of the consequences of non-compliance, the deadline came and went.

The Government granted a three-month extension to the unlicensed children's homes, but Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy, the point person on this matter, seemed only cautiously optimistic when she announced at a news conference in April that, "The new time frame for proclamation, barring any unforeseen circumstances, is July 1, 2023."

After that hard decisions will have to be made about the 230 children who are housed at these care facilities.

As a legal document, the act is long on requirements for the official standing of officers and organisational accountability, but it is also vague about mandating what these homes are specifically required to provide for children.

On as basic a matter as food, the act notes that a home is obligated to provide, "food that is, suitable for his dietary needs, health, religious persuasion or cultural background; and served in adequate quantities and at appropriate intervals, at least three times every day."

There is no definition of caloric intake by age, or, indeed, any of the minutiae that the act lavishes on matters of business.

It will fall to the Children's Authority to define humanitarian standards of care and nutrition for these care facilities and if necessary, seek amendments to the act that clarify and define them so that they can be enforced.

It's entirely possible that Archbishop Gordon is hoping for assistance in improving the quality of care offered in the homes under the control of the Catholic Church. The church announced internal assessments of conditions in its homes after the abuse allegations detailed in the Justice Judith Jones report.

Successfully enforcing this law will depend more on continuous inspection and upholding of standards instead of hard policing.

The welfare of children conspicuously unable to help themselves must be taken seriously, which will demand continuous assessment of children's homes with dedication and a focus on dramatically improved care.