JOHN Clarke is a shining example of the potential that exists in Jamaica’s children’s homes.

Abandoned in Kingston shortly after he was born, Clarke, now 21, grew up in institutions, including the Maxfield Park and Hansbury children’s homes before being raised by his foster mother Marjorie Binns.

But since turning 18 years old in his final year at Munro College, he has endured a series of financial crises to continue his education despite the significant help from the Jamaica Scholarship he won in 2007.

His outstanding academic record at Munro, where he gained eight Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects with grade ones and eight CAPE units, also with ones, catapulted him into the study of law.

Now back in Jamaica after completing his law degree at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill campus in Barbados, Clarke will be entering Norman Manley Law School, having hopefully “passed the worst”.

Still, he is acutely aware of the challenges that other children in state care will have to face in their bid to follow a similar path.

“There are no consistent programmes to help wards of the state who want to go to university and make something better of their lives,” Clarke said.

He, however, realises that other state wards with potential, but who may not have attained his lofty standards, are having the time of their lives just surviving even with a student loan.

“The Student Loan Bureau in its present form covers only tuition; it doesn’t cover living expenses such as food and rent,” Clarke told Career & Education.

To improve the opportunities for state wards, the youth suggests a system similar to that in Barbados where housing is provided for young persons for a short time after leaving children’s homes. This allows such persons to make a gradual adjustment to being on their own rather than the ad hoc situation that exists in Jamaica today.

Meanwhile, several wards of the state who have performed brilliantly in their school examinations are facing an uncertain future, given the limited provisions for them to continue their education to the tertiary level.

Seventy per cent of the children in state care who sat the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams in 2009 got passes in at least 50 per cent of subjects taken, according to statistics from the Child Development Agency (CDA).

But the young persons who grew up in children’s homes and are supposed to leave state care at age 18, are struggling to realise their full potential by going on to university and college.

For himself, Clarke had to rely on the generosity of others, most notably his foster mother and her friend Annah Fray and niece Shirley Robinson-Greaves. His current employers Debbie-Ann Gordon and Associates as well as Winston Bowen of the CDA and Alison Anderson-McLean, former head of the CDA, have also been instrumental, he said.

“I just had to live from day to day and week to week off the kindness of persons. I would say every single ward of the state in university is in the same position,” Clarke told Career & Education.

But apart from the challenges faced by state wards when they reach adulthood, a number of children in state care are doing extremely well at the primary and secondary levels, statistics provided by the CDA indicate.

In the 2009 CSEC exams, wards in children’s homes passed as many as nine subjects, while those in foster care earned up to eight.

A female at St Anthony’s Children’s Home in Andrew scored a perfect nine out of nine subjects while another at Elsie Bemand Girls’ Home in St Andrew gained eight out of eight.

A male who has been reintegrated with his family also earned nine out of nine subjects.

Other outstanding performers included a boy at the SOS Children’s Village in Stony Hill who passed eight out of eight, and in the western region of the island, a girl in foster care and the another girl under a supervision order, both of whom passed seven out of nine subjects.

The names of all state wards are not published on the request of the CDA. More than 80 children in state care are listed as doing CXC exams last year.

Not all performed well though as a few failed to gain a single subject. But most gained passes from one right up to nine subjects as stated.

Responding to questions from Career & Education, the CDA said all children, by virtue of attaining school age, are enrolled and provided with the necessary material to attend school.

“The agency provides support for paying school fees, examination fees and other material costs to ensure that children are given every opportunity to achieve academic excellence,” noted the CDA’s manager of communication Rashida St Juste.

Financial support is provided for children who have performed well academically and have moved on to further education at the tertiary level through the Special Assistance Grant, the CDA said.

A number of programmes for children transitioning out of state care from as early as age 14, including skills training, résumé writing and interview preparation.

To help address the transitioning of state wards to adulthood, the CDA has proposed the implementation of an Independent Living Programme.

As a first step on the road to realising all the elements of that programme, which is projected to cost $375 million, the CDA’s new boss Carla Francis Edie has said they are looking to establish a half way house within the next six months. That facility will serve the those who have aged out of the system but who have no family to support them.

Clarke has welcomed news of the halfway house.

“That is a great accomplishment and something that I think would be good in terms of (helping state wards) achieve their objectives. It is a very good initiative,” he said. “I hope they get all the resources they need to ensure that the programme can be a success.”

Among the services that will be offered at the facility are mentorship as well as guidance and counselling.

Clarke has, in the interim, urged state wards to put doubt aside in their bid to realise their goals, whatever the challenges they may face.

“The stars are no longer the limit because there are footprints on the moon. So, therefore, they should try their utmost best to realise what exactly is their dream, ensure that they put that dream into a five-year plan and ensure that what they are doing at this time will assist in realising that dream,” he said.

There were 5,782 children in the care of the state as at March 2010.

In the 2009 CSEC exams, wards in children’s homes passed as many as nine subjects, while those in foster care earned up to eight.

A female at St Anthony’s Children’s Home in Andrew scored a perfect nine out of nine subjects while another at Elsie Bemand Girls’ Home in St Andrew gained eight out of eight.

A male who has been reintegrated with his family also earned nine out of nine subjects.

Other outstanding performers included a boy at the SOS Children’s Village in Stony Hill who passed eight out of eight, and in the western region of the island, a girl in foster care and the another girl under a supervision order, both of whom passed seven out of nine subjects.