26.I.1 The family, in all its variety of forms, is the pivotal institution in any society. As the Family Code of the Caribbean asserts: "the family … is the elementary cell of society, and as such, contributes to its development and plays an important role in the upbringing of the new generations."

26.I.2 The family may also be pivotal in a negative way. Instead of being the primary source of emotional and material support to its members and the primary base for child development, families of all types, across social strata and race, may be places where power, whether based on income, gender, age and/or disability, is misused.

26.I.3 The family is pivotal for the good or ill of the society because it shapes the individuals who in turn shape the society. Put another way, just as the family is impacted on by constraints in the macro economic and social and cultural environment, so it in turn impacts on that environment, most visibly in the skills, attitudes and behaviour of people – whether as they function in the labour force or in the community. The chapter therefore adds to the discussion of the family as a unit, discussion of its most vulnerable members – children, adolescents, the elderly, and those with disabilities.

26.I.4 Neither in Guyana nor elsewhere is the family static in form. Instead, family form is shaped by the environment – for example, by changes in the macro and household economies. Moreover, differences in the social organisation and value systems of families are most pronounced in plural societies such as Guyana in which several ethnic groups, originally from different parts of the world, with varying traditions and distinct cultural practices, inhabit one nation state. There is therefore no one typical Guyanese family structure but different family structures shaped largely by differences in ancestral patterns of life and local histories.

26.I.5 Overlying this, however, is the broadly-shared belief, backed by most religious teaching, that the ideal family form is the nuclear family bound together in marriage that is legally and/or religiously approved. This was the teaching even during slavery when the practice of the slave owners and their allies destroyed any possibility of building such families and began the process through which the single-parent, female-headed household became a dominant feature in the Afro-Guyanese working class. Thus, even as this form of family becomes more and more usual among Amerindians and Indo-Guyanese under pressure of migration, all races and social strata continue to describe the nuclear family within marriage as the norm, and other forms, particularly female-headed, single-parent households, as deviant. This was borne out by a survey undertaken especially for the preparation of this chapter. In fact, what the society must confront is that among all race groups, the growing number of single-parent female-headed households are today especially vulnerable because widespread migration from and movement around the country have dispersed extended family support networks, while alternative support systems are either absent or underdeveloped.

26.I.6 Family structures in Guyana are the nuclear family in both its legal and common law forms: the single-parent, female-headed household, sometimes with three generations headed by a grandmother; the extended family of different types, its members sometimes living in the same household, sometimes in several households; child-headed households; and the household consisting of one individual, often an elderly or old person, more frequently a woman.

26.II.1.1 Key constraints on development discussed in other chapters act as critical constraints on Guyanese families:

• At the economic level, macroeconomic decline in the 1980s impoverished many Guyanese families, while the introduction of IMF/World Bank Structural Adjustment Policies reduced employment in the public sector, removed subsidies on basic items, introduced cost recovery for basic services and placed greater burdens on poor households, particularly on the women in those households.

• At the social and cultural level, constraints on families include the critical shortage of housing, the poor quality of and access to services, especially in the hinterland, the decline in the urban environment, and more recently, the social impact of the new mining and logging industries on Amerindian communities.

26.II.1.2 In the survey referred to earlier, respondents emphasised that families are expected to provide support for their members but acknowledged that the challenges they face make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the average Guyanese family to perform its basic functions. This reduced ability of a significant proportion of families to meet the fundamental requirements of their members has induced in many households a spirit of helplessness, hopelessness and despair, and has put both the family’s welfare and that of the nation at risk.

26.II.1.3 The new pressures are harsher on poor families of all types than on families of other social strata. With economic decline, the need for parents living in poverty to work in more than one job, or in both the formal and informal sectors, or in several locations in the informal sector, or for longer hours in small family businesses or farms, greatly increased. Some work, notably that of trading, requires regular travel across the country and/or region. The increase in waged work, together with the continuation of women’s overwhelming responsibility for unwaged work in home and community, gives them a triple burden which may result in the neglect of children. Poor women completely tied to reproductive work (because of the number and/or ages of the children they are raising), with inadequate support from fathers and/or the State, are among the most economically vulnerable in Guyana today and their children among the most deprived. There is an increase in parents with inadequate parenting skills, commitment and responsibility.

26.II.1.4 In some communities, there is also an increased absence of active fathers, sometimes due to migration; in Amerindian communities of the hinterland, for example, fathers travelling for long periods to work in the growing mining and logging areas create de facto female-headed, single-parent families. Migration, while a factor in the weakening of families across class and race, is differently expressed in poor families; while the issue has not been researched, it appears that among poor families there is a greater tendency for the migration of individual adults rather than of whole families, contributing to the small but telling number of child-headed households and to a growth in child-shifting. According to the abridged version of the report prepared by the WAB for submission to the 4^th World Conference on Women, 1995:

26.II.1.5 Some of the growing pressures on Guyanese families are faced by all social strata: these include migration itself; political instability; ethnic tension; negative changes in societal values and norms; the steep rise in HIV/AIDS; and the growing culture of illegality, violence and disorder.

26.II.1.6 There is strong evidence, also, that the incidence of violence and other abuse in Guyanese households, mainly against children, women, the elderly and the disabled, has increased significantly in recent years. Such violence is often associated with alcohol and drug abuse. While the evidence suggests that domestic violence cuts across race and class, more precise information is needed. There are also reports of an alarming increase in suicide, particularly among young Indo-Guyanese males, following family disputes.

26.II.1.7 The rise in conflicts in Guyanese families has not been accompanied by a rise in the mediation services available to them. There are no formal alternatives to the courts for the settling of family disputes, even though the matters of disagreement may be relatively trivial in content and substance, if not in the degree of conflict which they engender. The result is that the problems are either left to fester, or are elevated to a justiciable matter, with all the negative results of such action. The judicial system does not currently have a branch which deals specifically with family matters. All family problems are, as a consequence, treated by the courts in the same manner as other quite different types of dispute. Apart from the fact that this absence of specialist courts often leads to a failure to examine adequately and effectively the many sensitive issues which arise in family disputes, there are inordinate delays in their resolution, because of the backlog of work in Guyana’s courts. All too often, families disintegrate while waiting for their cases to be settled.

26.II.1.8 Because of the relatively high incidence of divorce and judicial separation in the country, but mostly because of the increasing numbers of children being born in visiting relations, a growing number of children live with single mothers but need to be maintained, at least in part, by fathers. Claims for maintenance may be made both in the Magistrates’ Court and in the High Court. However, magistrates can award a maximum amount of only G$250.00 per month. This is obviously grossly inadequate, and is a further cause not only of the break-up of the family, the abandonment of children, and the prevalence of street children, many of whom are not homeless in the way that homelessness is normally understood, but also of prostitution and the use of multiple male partners for the purpose of gaining income.

26.II.1.9 On the other side of the coin, because marriages in Guyana may be dissolved only if cruelty or adultery or malicious desertion is proven, the complexity of these requirements often leads to the continuation of marriages even in circumstances which bring grief to all family members, and is often the cause of increased bickering, strife, and violence.

26.II.2.1 Guyanese children and adolescents are growing up in a context where there is still an unacceptably high incidence of poverty; inadequate expenditure on education and health; and a desperate shortage of houses. There are not enough recreational and sporting facilities in many communities. Children and adolescents are also faced with an increasing burden of both unwaged and waged work. In addition, patterns of gender socialisation in Guyanese families, as in the rest of the Caribbean, are working negatively against both girls and boys: in a context of diminished parental attention to both sexes, girls are more restricted and more sexually abused and exploited, and are still trained into areas of interest, study and employment that are less valued and more poorly paid, while boys are being less carefully nurtured and more harshly beaten, and are dropping out of school in larger numbers than girls. All this has implications for the society in areas ranging from violence and crime to employment and income. Above all, it has implications for the kinds of family we will create in the future.

26.II.2.2 In short, the Guyanese child is being born, nurtured, and educated in an environment in which his or her physical and psychological health, viewed from any angle, is far from optimal. Cultural traditions are no longer being passed down to the young generation, resulting in a lack of appreciation of the significance of cultural norms and a lack of interest in cultural practices. Children and adolescents are poorer for not having this value system as part of their knowledge base and are more prey to what was earlier described as the growing culture of illegality, violence and disorder. Children and adolescents may also be particular victims of the continuing flaws or gaps in the law. For example, no laws exist which empower the Government or any of its agencies to remove children, found to be in threatening and dangerous situations, from the custody and control of parents and guardians. There are currently no laws governing foster care.

26.II.2.3 Schools cannot take up the slack for weakening families. Many teachers are themselves products of an education system which has been in decline, and a society where standards have fallen. This has implications for their teaching of academic, technical, vocational and life skills. Schools no longer provide career guidance. The result, for many children and youth, is a loss of faith in education as a path to social mobility. Indeed, surveys indicate that a significant proportion of them link their hope for the future with migration. As mentioned earlier, there are high levels of dropout, particularly among boys, at the same time that too many girls are being prepared for low-paid work.

26.II.2.4 Not only are many children coming out of school not trained in terms of work or life skills for the labour force; they also face inadequate opportunities for good jobs. Across two decades, a large part of what the economy has created is the opportunity for casual, informal sector and sometimes illegal work. Nor has the drive to survive that many young people have shown over this period been adequately recognised and rewarded so that they might move out of areas and levels of income-generation that are not productive either for themselves or for the national economy.

26.II.2.5 Adolescents, even below eighteen, are increasingly becoming involved in substance abuse. In addition, many begin having sex at an early age (a 1998 survey indicated the age of first sexual contact for some as 12 years old). This has implications for levels of teenage pregnancy (and therefore the continuation of cycles of poverty and of babies born with low birth weight) and for sexual health. Although recent data indicate that the number of youths under 20 years of age using contraceptives for the first time has grown from 1,648 in 1995 to 1809 in 1998, the number of teenage pregnancies has grown at a higher rate. Nor has the increased use of contraceptives protected adolescents from increased HIV and other STD infection: the 1998 statistical report from the Gerito-Urinary Medicine Clinic of the Georgetown Hospital revealed that of the 7,254 patients who visited the Hospital, 1409 or 19 percent were youths. It is also reported that the age group mainly affected by HIV/AIDS is the 19-35 age group, and that many persons 18-25 are being diagnosed with AIDS; given the long incubation period of AIDS infection, many of them must have become infected in their early, mid, or late teens. On the positive side, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1995 has reportedly led to a decrease in the number of abortions in girls below 19 years.

26.II.3.1 The elderly, too, are in a vulnerable position. Many live below the poverty line, particularly those living on small pensions and, in general, no special provisions are made either by the Government or the private sector to enable them to live in a modicum of comfort. Their nutrition is poor and the health services available to them inadequate. Their private housing facilities are, in general, decrepit and unmaintained.

26.II.3.2 Twenty years ago, part of the value system of Guyana was formal respect for the elderly and a generalised acceptance of the need to care for elderly parents and other relatives. Today, given the dispersal of families, many elderly people live alone, with all of their children overseas, and there is a lack of services to fill the gap. Across different social strata, they face a loneliness due in part to this disintegration of the family structure, but also to the dearth of facilities which can provide them with opportunities for participating in recreational activities and for social interaction.

26.II.3.3 In a survey undertaken in 1997 by a Senior Citizens Policy Development Committee, senior citizens almost unanimously expressed a preference for remaining in their own communities and homes rather than live in either public or private institutions. Moreover, the cost of keeping senior citizens in institutions is higher than that of supporting them to remain at home. In addition, they are often able to maintain or regain their independence when they live at home, and are provided with at least a minimum number of community services, including services by health professionals and trained volunteers.

26.II.3.4 Although there is strong evidence from many parts of the world that interaction between children and the elderly can be beneficial to both age groups, in Guyana such programmes appear for the most part to have been desultory, unplanned, and unsustained. Furthermore, the strengths of the elderly in Guyana are woefully under-utilised. There is a failure on the part of both the State and civil society to provide an environment in which they might continue to play an important role in the country's development and benefit in their old age from the contributions which many of them have made to the nation's social and economic growth. There are no programmes specifically designed to impart skills and knowledge to senior citizens, or to upgrade the skills and knowledge which they already possess. It is as if society considers that their productive lives are over. They are hardly ever given the opportunity to begin new careers. Indeed, most employers in Guyana strictly enforce the retirement age. In one respect this is understandable, for the retirement process permits younger persons to be promoted or to enter the labour force. It is evident, however, that there is a critical shortage of skills in areas that are key to the development of the nation; for example, trained and experienced teachers are desperately needed and yet, each year, the qualified elderly are required to retire.

26.II.3.5 In sum, the elderly in Guyana do not constitute a constituency whose needs are addressed. They are not organised in their own interests, not even to the limited degree that other vulnerable groups are. This helps explain why (unlike say, Barbados), public and private companies and agencies are not required or even encouraged to offer rebates and other financial assistance to the elderly. There is no law in Guyana which prescribes that certain types of physical facility be laid down in public places for the elderly and that buildings be designed to avoid impeding their mobility. No special health services are available at the health posts, managed by Community Health Workers, which are located mainly in the hinterland regions, for senior citizens; indeed very few are available throughout the country. There are no geriatric specialists in Guyana. The National Insurance and Social Security Act covers only that proportion of the population of the elderly who are either in, or just out of, the work force; it does not extend to those who were never gainfully employed. In effect, therefore, less than half of the elderly population benefit from the "Old Age" portion of the Act.

26.II.4.1 According to the National Policy on the Rights of People with Disabilities, there are no up-to-date data on disability in Guyana. However, the existing information suggests that disability is more prevalent in poorer families, and that its incidence is increasing as a result of a rise in traffic accidents.

26.II.4.2 Not only is poverty one of the leading causes of disability; disability can cause a family already living in poverty to become poorer, especially if the household’s sole income-earner becomes disabled. Disability also interacts with other variables to increase poverty.

26.II.4.3 Constraints on the lives of people with disabilities in Guyana are exacerbated by the inadequacy of rehabilitation services, especially outside the urban areas. The experience of the non-governmental, externally-funded Community-Based Rehabilitation Programme suggests that sustainable rehabilitation programmes can be built at community level, using nonprofessionals to deliver services. However, specialised and institutionalised services need to be provided as part of Primary Health Care.

26.II.4.4 The National Policy on Disability emphasises that while the material problems that people with disabilities face in Guyana are critical, societal attitudes towards them are no less crippling, and it adds that "the right of people with disabilities to education, to health services, to employment, to sexual relations and to parenthood…is far from assumed, still less provided for". Part of the reason for this is that organisations of and for people with disabilities do not focus on advocacy for their rights, nor are these rights raised as a matter of sustained, central concern by organisations and agencies working for the rights of other groups such as children or women.

26.III.1 The overarching goal is to enable Guyanese to create lives that are at least sufficient, at best liberating, in economic, social, cultural and spiritual terms.

26.III.2 What Guyanese families need to begin to regenerate themselves is the progressive transformation in the country’s macro-economic conditions, and in the quality of and access of all to basic services, that this National Development Strategy proposes. But it will not be possible to transform the environment and enable development unless the process is led by a population that sees its future here; that has a strong sense of wholeness or nation across ethnic and other differences; that is willing to reduce the disparities that exist between groups and render some groups more vulnerable; and that is healthy and imbued with the skills and values needed for creative and productive work and leisure. All this depends on creating and creating anew, families that can protect, nurture and enable its members. This is work not only for government but for government and civil society.

26.IV.1 Many of the strategies outlined below are detailed in other chapters, for example, strategies related to economic opportunity and housing. In addition, strategies are drawn from existing documents such as the National Policy on the Rights of People with Disabilities. All these are summarised here, grouped with new strategies, and prioritised, in order to indicate how they will interact in the regeneration of the Guyanese family. It is emphasised, however, that as part of the country’s general national development strategy, projects that are designed to raise the incomes of Guyanese families, to provide them with better and more relevant educational prospects and services, to enhance the quality of health care, to make available suitable and affordable accommodation and, most important, to create more job opportunities, will be formulated and implemented.

26.IV.2.1 To jump start the process, the proposed strategy is to put the strengthening of families on the active national agenda. Wide public discussion of the draft Family Code and the relevant proposals of the NDS will be organised, using the mass media, in order to spur active consideration, leading to increased agreement, about the rights and responsibilities of, and the enabling conditions for, families.

26.IV.2.2 As emergency action which will not only make a practical difference but demonstrate commitment to supporting families, the proposal is to strengthen social safety nets for vulnerable families by announcing and implementing the exemption of all persons below the poverty line from cost recovery for basic services.

26.IV.3.1 To provide new economic opportunities for families below the poverty line:

• New, accessible microcredit schemes for the rural, urban and hinterland poor below the poverty line will be introduced.

• Public servants who are retrenched will be offered retraining and low-interest loans.

• Social Assistance for parents unable to have paid employment because of the care needs of disabled dependents will be increased; and National Insurance Scheme provisions amended to provide benefits for such parents as self-employed persons.

26.IV.3.2 To open up opportunities for housing to new groups among the poor:

• Criteria for the allocation of housing lots will be revised to accommodate poor, unemployed youths, female heads of household, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

• Money will be sought to establish two funds to provide rent and mortgage supplements for poor families.

• Incentives will be provided to commercial banks to extend mortgage loans at reduced interest rates.

26.IV.3.3 To provide better protection for children and adolescents:

• The Children’s Service Unit will be empowered to remove from the custody and control of parents and guardians, children found to be in threatening and dangerous situations, including those abandoned, neglected or ill-treated, and to seek the necessary orders from a Court of competent jurisdiction.

• Guidelines for teachers will be drawn up to enable them, as a legal requirement, to report any signs of domestic violence and child abuse which they observe at school.

• Legislation will be enacted to regulate the fostering of abandoned or neglected children.

• Regulations will also be formulated for the operation of orphanages and children’s homes and more homes will be provided.

• The Adoption of Children Act will be amended to permit persons living in common law unions to adopt children.

• The maximum age for maintenance of children will be increased to 18 years, and the minimum amount of maintenance which a Magistrate could order for a child and for a spouse will be increased after consideration by experts in this matter. There will be no maximum limit.

• Special programmes, both within and outside of the school system, will be organised to work with Guyanese youth against drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and teenage pregnancies.

• Legislation will be enacted regulating day care in both private and municipal institutions and requiring all day care centres and child minders to be registered.

26.IV.3.4 To provide better protection for people with disabilities and elderly people in institutions:

• The necessary regulations and monitoring mechanisms and agencies for institutions housing people with disabilities, and elderly people will be established.

26.IV.3.5 To begin the process of providing for the equalisation of opportunities for people with disabilities:

• Existing legislation will be amended, and new enacted legislation as required, to remove areas of discrimination against people with disabilities and promote the equalisation of opportunities for people with disabilities.

• Beginning from the next census, data on the causes, types and incidence of disability will be collected systematically.

• All buildings for public use will be immediately required (in the case of publicly-owned buildings) or strongly urged (in the case of privately-owned buildings), to provide affordable access to people with disabilities, e.g., ramps for wheelchair access such as those at the Public Library, the Cultural Centre and St. George’s Cathedral in Georgetown.

• Standards will be established and enforced for the provision of access of people with disabilities to new buildings and facilities.

26.IV.3.6 To offer improved support for resolving family conflict peacefully:

• A number of family conflict resolution centres will be established and developed to deal with family disputes before they escalate into violence and disruption and before they reach the Courts. The establishment of non-governmental organisations with similar aims will also be supported.

• A Family Law Act, incorporating relevant legislation, regulating the relationship of parties in common law unions and providing for the resolution of disputes over property, child and spouse maintenance and the custody of children, will be enacted.

• A Family Court will be established to mediate over these matters.

26.IV.3.7 To use the strengths of the elderly for development:

• The enforcement of the rules re retirement will be relaxed, and employers will be encouraged to re-employ retirees with needed skills and knowledge.

• Facilities for adult training which give retirees a chance to update their own skills and enable them to continue to contribute in a meaningful way to society will be established.

• Seniors will be encouraged to develop a second career, and the services of retirees will be used in appropriate institutions and agencies; for example, they will be invited to be involved in teaching programmes in the formal Education system.

26.IV.4.1 To increase protection and opportunities for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities:

• Guyanese nationals resident overseas who can provide evidence that they are fit persons to adopt will be permitted to adopt children, provided that the local Adoption Board and the Courts, informed by the International Social Services, are satisfied that the adoption is in the best interest of the child.

• All new senior citizens’ institutions and institutions for people with disabilities will be built to specifications which ensure that all the special services necessary for comfort and security are in place, and provision will be made to upgrade existing institutions to such standards.

• The National Insurance Scheme’s medical care benefits will be continued after retirement since this is when illness most often occurs and assistance needed.

• Duty free concessions will be given to the elderly and to people with disabilities for drugs and other health-related necessities.

• A health visitors’ scheme will be re-introduced and clinics will place emphasis on the monitoring of the situation of senior citizens and of people with disabilities to ensure that a supply of essential drugs and essential aids is always available for their use.

• For seniors living independently, a programme of Home Help will be institutionalised to ensure that they are cared for and have some contact with others during the day. Economic support, counselling, and care services will be provided to enable people with disabilities to live at home.

• All health personnel will be trained in some aspects of care of the elderly, and geriatric clinics will be established for their use at the central and regional hospitals.

• Access to rehabilitation, health, educational and other services for people with disabilities will be improved through the upgrading of facilities, the establishment of new specialised facilities, and the integration of people with disabilities into general-use facilities, as determined to be appropriate by people with disabilities and their organisations and agencies.

26.IV.4.2 To expand economic opportunities for families living in poverty:

• Land reform increasing the size of the holdings of the rural poor will be introduced.

26.IV.4.3 To provide the basis for more families to have access to better housing:

• Land for housing will be granted free of charge to people below the poverty line.

• A new housing policy will facilitate the introduction of schemes which can develop a range of innovative housing arrangements (eg. Home sharing, retirement villages).

• For the elderly and people with disabilities in need, a special fund will be allocated for property maintenance for both individuals and established homes.

• Housing for seniors and for people with disabilities within new and existing communities will be established at subsidised rental for those with low incomes.

26.IV.4.4 To expand opportunities for leisure and sports:

• A comprehensive, countrywide recreation and sports programme will be formulated and implemented. It will include the establishment of sports centres in strategic locations throughout the country; the employment of an adequate number of coaches in various fields; the organisation of a greater number of competitive games for all relevant age classes, beginning with the primary schools, and extending through the secondary schools to the University and public at large; the engagement of scouts to recognise early skills and genius in our youth, and the provision of better amenities and services.

• At least two multipurpose sports stadia, one in Demerara and the other in Berbice, will be established by 2010, and a third will be established in Essequibo as soon as possible thereafter.

• Senior citizens’ clubs will be formed in every community to facilitate seniors’ participation in recreational/sports events.

• Facilities for community activities, as well as Health Care Centres, will be erected in housing areas.

26.IV.4.5 To invest in Youth:

• Across the whole period covered by the National Development Strategy, the provision of training by the Adult and Continuing Education community, both government and non-government, to out-of-school youth, will be actively and concretely supported. This will include re-education for real functional literacy and might include, depending on needs assessments and on the results of consultations with youth, vocational, technical and/or further academic training. The Private Sector will be asked to collaborate with this programme through the provision of funds and/or work attachments or apprenticeship programmes.

• In the formal education system, career guidance will be made an important aspect of the education system.

• Participatory seminars and workshops involving in-school and out-of-school youth in discussions on all aspects of nation building, with the emphasis on living amicably in multi-racial societies will be organised on a continuous basis. These topics will also be integral parts of the curricula of primary and secondary schools.

• In training and educating the young people of Guyana, the specific needs of this development strategy will be taken into account, and a comprehensive system which links training and education to development needs will be formulated and implemented.