KINGSTON, Jamaica — Approximately 700 youth in state care were sensitised to opportunities that will adequately prepare them for independent living.

These include entrepreneurship, vocational and technical skills training, housing accommodation for two years, tertiary enrolment and tuition payments, to support their move to the next phase of their lives.

They can access these benefits for free under the Child Protection and Family Agency’s (CPFSA) Transitional Living Programme (TLP). The programme targets youth at the age of 18 years, who are not yet ready to live on their own, without additional support.

The sensitisation sessions were held during the CPFSA’s Transitional Living Programme’s Expo at Jamaica College in St Andrew on Thursday, July 21.

There, Chief Executive Officer of CPFSA, Rosalee Gage-Grey, assured the youth that the agency remains committed to supporting them.

“Today is all about you. We want you to grasp the opportunity if you are having difficulties. [We’re giving] the commitment that whatever you want to be, you can be…and we are here to support you,” she said.

One beneficiary of the programme, who is now a registered nurse, is 26-year-old Tanegea Campbell, who became a ward of the state at the age of seven.

“My mother had six of us but could not afford to [care for us all] so she sent three of us to a family member who later added us to the CPFSA. It’s been one of my greatest blessings,” she said.

“I graduated Victor Dixon High School with seven subjects and then went on to Northern Caribbean University, [to study nursing]. I also got a scholarship from the Children of Jamaica Outreach (COJO) through CPFSA and graduated,” she disclosed.

Campbell also noted that her journey through TLP helped her mental health.

“I received counselling because I was also a teenage mom. While being on the TLP, I received a stipend each month [to help with the expenses],” she said.

She is encouraging other youth to “keep their goals in mind, graduate school and never quit,” despite any stigma faced as a ward of the state.

Against that backdrop, Career Development Officer at the HEART/NSTA Leap Centre, Dr Howard Harvey, said the centre provides a wide variety of courses for these youth to access.

He said these include housekeeping, food preparation, retail bakery, footwear production, art and crafts and information and technology programmes such as data operation, customer service and graphic design.

“We also provide career guidance and employability skills training, because in the workplace they are requesting for more persons to have soft skills,” he said.

These programmes run for three to six months.

Over 4,565 children are currently in state care. Of that number, close to 2000 are living in residential childcare facilities, which include children’s homes and places of safety.