Safe spaces needed for homeless women and children, says Dujon

Gender and human rights advocate Felicia Dujon is calling for the establishment of a safe shelter specifically for women and children in dire social and financial circumstances.

She made the suggestion on Wednesday on the heels of “quite a number of disturbing moments in the last few weeks [involving] mothers and children in situations of homelessness”.

Dujon’s call also came a day after the Child Care Board took custody of the one-year-old and three-year-old children of homeless mother Danae Gibbons.

“We have seen cases of mothers in homes that are unsafe…structurally unsafe. These are the kinds of conversations we need to broaden when we think about the rights of children, the rights of mothers, the rights of parents when they are placed in those vulnerable situations,” the recently-elected third vice president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) told Barbados TODAY in a prepared statement.

While acknowledging that the state is limited in what it can do to provide assistance for those families, she said the DLP was proposing more holistic approaches to social problems, including where children have to be taken away from their parents and placed in safer spaces.

“It is important that we start thinking about having more safe homes or safe houses or shelters for mothers and their children, in particular in such cases. We are aware that there are shelters that deal with mothers and children from domestic violence [situations], but when it comes to cases of persons, particularly mothers with unemployment issues who have not been able to adequately provide for their children, there are very limited spaces…actually, there are no shelters,” Dujon contended.

“As much as the state can provide those kinds of interventions, we as a society need to think of what we can do to provide those safe spaces for women and their children when they are placed in those predicaments.”

She also pointed out that many single women had lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and faced economic hardships in general.

Dujon was adamant that families in such circumstances should not be penalised, especially considering that some have been working hard to try to keep a roof over their heads and to ensure their children are fed and kept in a safe environment.

“So again, we are appealing to the Minister that is responsible for People Empowerment Mr Kirk Humphrey to see what can be done…and if we can find a safe space, a safe home,…shelter that would help those mothers and not separate them from their children because they cannot afford to, or because they have lost the ability to afford to, keep their children in safe homes,” the gender and human rights advocate pleaded.

She also urged Barbadians to do whatever they could to assist families in tough situations.

(EJ)