Safety concern amid summer camp cuts

FRIDAY, JULY 1: Recession-hit families are struggling to meet the cost of summer camps for their kids, sparking safety fears from childcare watchdogs.

Amid growing unemployment, wage-freezes and overtime bans, the expense of summer camps — sometimes as much as $300-a-week — is proving too much for some parents.

Budget cuts across Government have also led to a reduction in subsidies for struggling parents.

Now the Coalition for the Protection of Children is launching a ‘sponsor a child’ scheme to help needy parents ensure their kids don’t suffer. The campaign follows an unprecedented number of requests for help at the -charity’s headquarters.

Nicola Feldman, executive director of the charity, warned that summer camps were a necessity rather than a luxury for many families.

She said children, aged between nine and 13 left without constructive, structured activity during school holidays, were most at risk of getting involved in anti-social behaviour or being recruited by gangs.

The risk of children being left home alone is also a concern. The Department of Child and Family Services reported a record number of child abuse cases last year with social workers warning that the highest number of complaints were of ‘abuse by neglect’ — children left to fend for themselves by working parents who can’t afford daycare.

In other cases parents have to take time off work to look after their children, leaving them in deeper financial difficulty.

The majority of summer camps will start on Monday with vastly reduced numbers — even though many have reduced prices.

Tim Sousa of Inspire Academy, which runs a nine-week summer programme based out of Cedarbridge, said the directors were considering cutting some weeks because of lack of numbers.

He said around 70 people had registered for the camp last summer compared with around 20 this year. Inspire has cut the cost from $200-a-week to $175.

Ms Feldman, of the Coalition, said the charity was looking for donors to sponsor the cost of putting a child through summer camp.

She said several summer camps had also reported low registration, suggesting the problem was widespread.

“It is important that children spend their time constructively, that they have fun and gain extra skills. They need to be supervised and in a structured environment or they risk becoming involved in anti-social behaviour.”

Soccer coach Andrew Bascome, who runs a kids camp based at Bernard Park, said he would work with any child — regardless of their ability to pay.

He has cut costs for the camp, which involves football coaching, swimming and fishing, from $125-a-week to $80-a-week. And he says he even lets some youngsters come for free if the parents can’t afford the cost.

“We get a lot of kids from the area, some from social services, some of them can’t really pay. I understand that and I’ll make allowances.

“I know the economic climate so I cut the cost so parents would have somewhere to send their children. I’m here at the park every day from 8.30am if anyone’s struggling tell them come talk to me.”

Renee James, who runs the Precious Little People camp – based this year at Crawl Hill, said several parents had called her asking if she could reduce costs.

“I’ve had about 15 people saying they would like to come but they want me to reduce the costs.”

She said she had put the price down but could not afford to go lower than $125-a-week. She said she had ten children signed up this year compared with around 40 last year — although that was partially because of the late decision to run the camp.

Shayna Durham, intake co-ordinator at the Coalition, said she had fielded between 15 and 20 requests for assistance, including some referrals from the Department of Child and Family Services.

“The fear is that a lot of these children will end up watching themselves,” she added.

Glenn Blakeney, Minister of Youth Affairs and Families, was not available for comment yesterday. No-one from the Department of Child and Family Services was authorized to speak to the Bermuda Sun and the Department of Communication and Information did not return calls.

Sponsor a child through Summer Camp by contacting the Coalition for the Protection of Children on 295-1100.