The Minister made the disclosure at a town hall meeting hosted by the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) on November 07, 2013, at the Red Cross building on Chapel Street. She explained that staff were at present in training for implementation of the new programme but gave some insight into the new facility.

 

“In the past, we would give a family, let’s say a mother, a voucher for food, for clothing and one month, there is no follow up and then next month, we would do the same when they come back.

 

“This new programme will look at the whole family and so if the mother is having difficulties feeding the family, we will look at how we can rehabilitate her, in terms of teaching her how to manage her money, getting some educational programmes that she could attend. In that same family, if there is a father who is delinquent, an alcoholic, we’ll look for ways in which we can counsel him to play a more active role in the lives of the children,” she said.

 

Mrs. Brandy-Williams also added that the children in the family would also receive some attention since they would have to attend programmes geared towards keeping them on the right path. Provisions would also be made for extended family members who suffered from mental issues.

 

“So it is a holistic approach of dealing with the problem of the entire family. It is an effort to end the generations of persons being on Social Welfare, so to speak,” the Minister explained.