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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Shiyonga",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13181,
"legal_name": "Masitsa Naomi Shiyonga",
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"content": "As much as many of us are enjoying lives in this country, the regulatory frameworks that our Senator has brought in this Bill are appealing and timely. I really want to support and congratulate her for this Bill. If you look through this Bill, it has actually managed to address all the areas that need to be looked at in the establishment of a Children’s Home within the country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the promotion of the welfare of these children, including their education; medical care, supervision amongst other things have been addressed in this Bill. This is important because the children that are taken into these homes are still in the process of developing both mentally and physically. Therefore, they really need a lot of care because most of them are still tender and need to be nurtured to go through the stages of life until they attain maturity. You will find that there are so many people who are taking advantage of these homes to turn them into a commercial venture and make some money out of it. It is very important that we ensure that the amount of funding that goes to these homes should go hand in hand with what care that is given to these children other than the people managing them just being profiteers and making cash cows out of this. Mr. Speaker, Sir, our Government still needs to do a lot. As much as we are talking about education and healthcare, a lot still needs to be done. If this Bill goes through and it is assented to, it will improve most of the children’s homes that have been established and abolish those that do not meet the standards. If you also look at this Bill, it has a good framework regarding the availing and regularizing of the records and documentation of these children. You will find that most of these people just establish children’s homes purporting that they want to take care of the children, but, indeed, they want to make money out of it. It is, therefore, very important that we have in this framework, regular monitoring and surveillance that is under Section 34. It should state properly how best such a home should be monitored and how surveillance need to be done. There is also the issue of the conduct of the persons taking care of these children. I want to congratulate the Senator who has put it very clearly that they must be qualified people if not proper qualified personnel. These children need somebody to treat them just like their own children and not just as service rendered. They should take these children as their own because these are living human beings and not just objects in life that need to be taken care of. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the section on delivery of children you will note that nowadays some people take their children to a children’s home, not because they like doing it, but because they are forced to do so by circumstances. The framework that will be put in place will give those people who are taking their children into these homes the assurance that their children will live a life of high standards. The personnel handling these children will have high qualifications. Therefore, they will treat these children exactly how a parent would do. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}