No children should be sleeping out in the rain, and what has happened to us that we are able to cut ourselves off when we see a child suffering on the streets and not connect to them.
This was the sentiment shared by the Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, Sashi Kiran, while speaking on the issues surrounding street kids.
She says they would like to see not a single child on the streets so they are developing shelters where they are profiling the children and taking them to these shelters.
Kiran says when children suffer from neglect and physical and psychological abuse, it leads to children being on the streets.
She adds that they have been working with street kids from Suva and Lautoka over the past few weeks, where they are also providing them with advice.
The Assistant Minister is thankful that a lot of stakeholders have shown their support towards their initiative and she will be calling a stakeholders meeting in a few weeks.
Kiran says they are not only profiling street kids and leaving them or dumping them at home, but they are returning the kids to their families, who are willing to take them in.
The Assistant Minister also highlighted that they have taken 19 elderly persons who are street dwellers and put them in age-care homes as a temporary solution, and some have been taken to St Giles Hospital for treatment.
