Green calls for an end to discrimination against wards of the state

State Minister in the Ministry of Education and Youth and Information Floyd Green is urging Jamaicans not to discriminate against wards of the state.

In his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in Parliament yesterday, Green said wards asked him to engage Parliament and the private sector in a discussion on how they are perceived and the stigma they have to negotiate.

“What the wards said to me Mr Speaker is that oftentimes when they apply for a job [and] when they indicate that they lived in a government facility they are discriminated against,” Green said.

Continuing:“They [wards] say oftentimes the entire interview Mr Speaker changes and (an) assumption is made that they are troublemakers coming into the place to give trouble”.

Green noted that the majority of children in state care are there due to neglect and not behavioural issues.

“Some of them Mr Speaker have acted up, that is the truth, but Mr Speaker when you dig deeper oftentimes they are acting up because of abuse at home. Discriminating against them Mr Speaker furthers that cycle of abuse," Green said.

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