Fiji does not have a rehabilitation centre for street kids.
Principal Welfare Officer Salote Biukoto while highlighting this during the presentation of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection’s submission to the Standing Committee on Social Affairs on their 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 annual reports on Tuesday, said a taskforce has been formed which was working with faith-based organisations in securing a location to set up a rehabilitation centre for the street kids.
“We are currently working with Methodist Church and Salvation Army to see if we can secure one,” Ms Biukoto said.
“In terms of the statistical data on street kids, we have 33 street kids in Lautoka, in Suva we have currently 11 who are full-time on the streets, in Nadi we have five.
“For Nakasi-Nausori, we are still working on it.
“As we’re speaking, we have just come out from a profiling exercise whereby we profiled more than 15 children.”
She said their ministry continued to seek a budget for the technical working group.
“With a budgetary allocation in financial year 2020-2021, the ministry has dependent without a budgetary allocation.
“We lost our budgetary allocations in 2020-2021.
“So, the ministry had dependent on partners for shelter, reintegration programs of the children back to their families as well as providing shelter, either in the children’s residential homes or with families that were providing accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-tropical cyclone Harold.”
