CCPA calls on persons to foster a child

…as Foster Care Month is launched

The Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) has once again dedicated the month of November to foster care; this time around, under the theme “Parenthood is more than just DNA, mentor or foster a child in need of care today”.
The official launch was done on November 1, 2018, with an awareness walk from Bank of Guyana to the Georgetown seawall Band Stand.
In an interview with Guyana Times on Saturday, Director of the Agency, Ann Greene called on persons to come forward and foster a child even as she highlighted the need for awareness when it comes to foster care.
“Foster care is temporary care, meaning that a child for some reason or the other had to be removed from their home temporarily because something at the home isn’t right so we need to fix something. So foster care is temporary care with the ultimate goal being to return that child to their home or family. Adoption on the other hand is a legal process where the children have to get completely new parents and they become the legal parents,” she reminded. She encouraged persons to open their hearts and their homes and foster a child.
She pointed out that any interested person will go through the necessary screening process before their application is processed, which includes a background and Police records check.
According to Greene, the Agency will continue to focus on sensitisation in various groups, including religious organisations as well as Parent Teacher Association (PTA) groups. “The whole idea about it is to get the buy-in from the public. We want to increase our core list of foster parents because we have over 600 children in institutions,” she informed.