The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), is encouraging more Jamaicans to help provide better home environments for state children.

There are currently 4,491 children in State care and 1,247 are part of the Foster Care Programme; February 12 to 18 marks National Foster Care Week and this year the them is ‘Building Resilience through Empowerment.

Taneka Cassanova-Durrant, placement coordinator at the CPFSA, in an interview with JIS news said:

“I just want to encourage persons to foster a child if you are able to do so because your intervention can mean a world of difference and can change the life of a child in a positive way. Help us to provide that nurturing home environment that our children are so deserving of.”

She noted that, as the agency “charged with the mandate of safeguarding the best interest of Jamaica’s children who are deemed to be in need of care and protection, the CPFSA recognises the importance of a family environment as the most suitable place for a child to be raised”.

National Foster Care Week begins with church services across the CPFSA regions, and agency will be holding empowerment sessions islandwide during the week and beyond, including an appreciation ceremony on Wednesday (February 15) where the public will have an opportunity to select an outstanding foster parent by liking posts of the nominees on the agency’s social media platforms.

Another feature of the week will be the recognition of the top-three CPFSA foster care officers, based on total number of placements during 2022.

Persons who are interested in becoming foster parents are advised to contact the CPFSA office in their parish or visit the agency’s website at www.childprotection.gov.jm or social media pages on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @cpfsajm.

Interested persons must be an adult between the ages of 25 to 65 years old in good legal and moral standing, have suitable accommodations for a child, be gainfully employed or have a steady stream of income and provide two references from a Notary Public. They should also provide two certified passport photographs, submit a police record and be willing to facilitate home assessments by CPFSA’s children officers and ensure that the home is suitable and ready for placement.