Institutional care fate of many abandoned children
KALUTARA: Thirteen-year-old Kumuduni Perera (not her real name) was
found outside the Suvasetha orphanage in Panadura town, Kalutara
District, when she was just two months old.
The authorities from the orphanage believe Kumuduni was left at the
entrance early one morning by one of her relatives who has not visited
her since. Raised in the orphanage, Kumuduni says that some day she
hopes to find her parents.
In Sri Lanka today institutional care is the fate of many children
who have been abandoned by their parents. According to UNICEF, out of
over 21,000 children in orphanages in Sri Lanka, one or both parents of
over 19,000 of them are still alive.
UNICEF says in most cases it is a family member who leaves the child
at an orphanage.
“In Sri Lanka institutional care has become the sole option for many
children because their family unit is destroyed, by such things as
parental loss, separation or parental conflict. Another reason may be
the war and displacement factors,” UNICEF said in a report entitled,
“Out of Sight - Out of Mind.”
Poverty is also a root cause with the family feeling they cannot
afford to adequately provide for the child, according to the UN agency.
The UNICEF report, published in collaboration with the Ministry of
Child Development and Women’s Empowerment, aims to improve living
conditions in orphanages and ensure the children are cared for
adequately.
There are currently 488 voluntary children’s homes in Sri Lanka. Most
are found in Batticaloa District which has 66, followed by Colombo with
60.
Living conditions for children in some of these homes is less than
idyllic.
According to the UNICEF report, only 12 children’s homes are found to
be fully compliant with current standards of care. Most homes are
overcrowded and lack sufficient staff to provide the individual
attention children need.
“It is difficult to employ staff to look after children as the pay is
insufficient,” Leslie Fernando (name changed), a staff member of
Suvasetha orphanage, told IRIN. “Many homes do not even have separate
accommodation areas for the staff so we have to sleep with the
children.”
Fernando, like many employees at children’s orphanages, is reluctant
to be identified for fear of losing his job.
Many children’s homes in Sri Lanka do not even have sufficient basic
facilities such as beds, clean water or adequate sanitation facilities.
“Sometimes we have to sleep on the floor as we do not always get a
bed,” Kumuduni told IRIN. “We take turns to sleep on beds as there are
five children in my room and only two beds,” she said.
According to the UNICEF report, 136 orphanages said they did not have
a sufficient number of beds: many of the children ended up sleeping on
mats on the floor. In addition, UNICEF found that 142 homes were unable
to provide separate storage space for children’s personal belongings.
“Most of these children living in homes, do not get what they
deserve,” Sumana Silva (name changed), the manager of the Suvastha
orphanage, told IRIN. Like many orphanage employees, she has been warned
by her employer not to talk to the media about living conditions at the
children’s home.
“The kids are often ignored by the authorities,” said Silva, “so we
do not have enough money to run the homes or send them to school.” Those
children who are not getting a formal education receive basic reading
and writing classes from staff members in the mornings at Silva’s
orphanage, she says.
Most children living in homes have never known the true meaning of
family.
Although many homes allow parents to visit, these visits are often
deliberately kept brief and highly supervised, according to the National
Child Protection Authority (NCPA). This, observers claim, is so the
children do not have the opportunity to complain of staff abuse to a
parent who might subsequently lodge complaints against them with the
protection authority.
Communication with parents and relatives - including letters written
home by the children and those received by them - is often closely
monitored by orphanage authorities, according to the Women and
Children’s Bureau of the Sri Lanka Police Department.
The bureau, one of whose functions is to investigate child abuse, is
concerned that many children are confined in these orphanages with
restricted communication with parents and relatives and often with
inadequate supervision or living conditions.
During festivals children receive gifts and cash donations from
well-wishers and foreigners who visit the area. However, according to
the bureau, last year alone it received over 150 complaints against
staff members for theft, during these festivals, of belongings and cash
from children living in orphanages. Most of the complaints were lodged
by relatives of the children.
The UNICEF report suggests a large number of cases of child
institutionalisation could be avoided if better programmes were
implemented to support families. “A clearer focus on family in child
care policies could strengthen awareness about the rights to protection
and care to which every child is entitled,” UNICEF said. Currently Sri
Lanka has no such policies in place.
Sri Lanka also currently lacks programmes to help reunite children
with their families, according to the NCPA. However, the Ministry of
Child Development and Women’s Empowerment said that it is soon planning
to initiate a programme so that children can be reunited with their
families, thus reducing the number of children in orphanages.
IRIN |