It's tough turning 18 ...at a children's home Klao Bell, staff reporter For many young Jamaican adults, leaving home is a choice they make. But for wards of the state, there are few options, nearly all of them must leave 'home' at 18 and go on their own. "At 18 they have to leave, according to the Juveniles Act. Those who have families who are willing to take them, are free to go," explained Claudette Hemmings, Deputy Director for Child Care Institutions in the Children Services Division (CSD). "But there are many who stay a year or so with us until they sort themselves out." Some 118 young adults in the island's 52 children's homes and places of safety will turn 18 this year. In many cases they are not ready to take on the challenge of life outside of the protective environment they've called home, in some cases, for all of their lives. "Eighteen is too young, a boy can barely help himself at that age," said Fannie Knight, superintendent at the Jamaica Christian Boys Home. Superintendents and social workers, often do not agree that these young persons are ready to go on their own, and occasionally ignore the law for the sake of the young adults' safety. "If they don't have a job and nowhere to go, we don't just throw them out on the street," said Ivy Green, manager of the Elsie Bemand Home for Girls. "Girls have reached 18 and we keep them up to three years until they get on their feet." Elsie Bemand is privately run, catering to girls in need of care and protection who are referred by the CSD. There are six 18-year-olds there, five in high school and one who recently started working. The working girl, like others who have gone ahead, is saving money in preparation for the inevitable. "She knows she will have to go and has a plan," Ms. Green said. "She is saving her money to rent a place with her sisters. One girl who left here started saving her lunch money from she was 17. When she started working she bought her things bit by bit. When it was time for her to leave we had to get a truck to move her." Troubled On arriving at the homes, wards are told that they have to leave when they turn 18, and as the time approaches this knowledge elicits different reactions from the wards. "When they get to 17, they sometimes start getting rebellious and when you check it out it's because they are near to their 18th birthday and they realise that have to leave the institution," Mrs. Hemmings said. But the response is different forHope, a resident of Elsie Bemand, who turned 18 last November. "I just want to go out there and make something good of myself. I'm not afraid, I make up my mind that it's the time and I just have to do it," she said. Steven, of the Jamaica Christian Boys home feels differently. "I don't think I'll be ready," he said. Steven is thinking of several options and has created contingencies for the time when he will have to leave. "I want to be a scientist, I would like to go on to further studies after my CXCs but I don't see how that's possible now," he said. "I think the best thing for me to do is to join the army, because I can get to live there. After I build up myself a little then I can try to go to college." Gone astray These wards have a vision for the future, but there are others who have left the homes unprepared for the real world and without parental guidance have ended up on the wrong path. "There are youngsters who have left the homes and have died by the gun," Mrs. Hemmings said. "I can think of just one case right now." Ms. Green recalled cases of "girls who have left us and ended up pregnant, and jobless." The Government provides a little money to help the young adults make the transition. "Some may get a bed grant, others may get a tool grant or a clothing grant if they need clothes for work, we try to help them in any way we can," said Everton Dacosta a social worker in the CSD. Ms. Knight insists on teaching her charges some basic survival skills in preparation for life on their own. "I teach the boys to wash, cook, clean and help themselves, there's nobody out there to do it for them," she said. Names changed on request.
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