Mission >
History
History
of the Grand
Bahama Children's Home
 In May 1977,
The Grand Bahama Children's Home was
formed to help care for children who needed to be removed
from their families for reasons of abandonment, abuse or
neglect. These children were housed in various apartments.
The founding committee was comprised of concerned citizens: Mr.
Terrance Roberts, Chairman; Isidell Gerguson, Vice-Chairman; Sylvia
Davis, Secretary; Ellaine Sands, Assistant Secretary; Hadley Forbes,
Asst. Treasurer; Bernie Davis and Dr. Breast, Directors and Mrs.
Moon Kim-Malonson, Chairperson of the Fund Raising Committee.
 In
1980, the Committee was re-organized and Lady Henrietta St. George
became the Chairperson. The Grand Bahama Port Authority donated a
building and the Grand Bahama Children’s Home was officially opened
on Jobson Avenue. The Home cared for children from the age of six
(6) weeks to eighteen (18) years. The numbers grew to nearly sixty
(60) children, which proved to be too much for the building to
accommodate.
In 1987, the Salvation Army, with the
assistance of Lady Henrietta St. George, established Harmony House,
a Home for teenage girls. In 1991, Lady Henrietta St. George built
Columbus Houses I and II for teenage boys. This meant that the
original Children’s Home then cared for children between the ages of
6 weeks to 13 years old.
 On
April 13, 2000 Lady Henrietta St George and Lady Turnquest, wife of
the Governor-General, broke ground for The Village, a new
children’s home on Tripp Lane. The old home, which has housed 900
children over 20 years, was in need of better facilities. The
Village will be financed half by Lady Henrietta, Sir Jack Hayward
and Edward St George, and half by government.
The
Grand Bahama Children’s Home is run jointly by the Department of
Social Services and the Grand Bahama Children’s Home Committee. It
is funded through donations from the Grand Bahama Community and an
annual grant towards salaries is received from The Bahamas
Government.
Since the initial opening of the Home, over
nine hundred (900) children have been accommodated. Approximately
sixty-eight (68) children have been adopted or fostered. All
children are placed in the Home by the Department of Social
Services. |
