A first for Chiayi county? ?–? ?children? ?can a last remain close to home

Anren Home, which was established by the Catholic Church in Chiayi Parish, is the first place in Chiayi to specially provide care and guidance for children and teenagers?. ?This year on the 21st of March saw the official opening of the home, where the Bishop of Chiayi county, An-zhu, expressed his hopes that the home can act as a shelter to those children in the nearby area who find themselves in pressing and difficult situations. Over and above its role of providing a safe haven for the children, the home will also provide counseling and help with school studies. 

The head of Anren Home, Xie Meng-jie, expressed their concern that Chaiyi is the only place in Taiwan that is without an orphanage, and that if there is domestic violence, sexual assault or if children lose parents, then the they have to be sent to other counties in Taiwan. At present, Anren Home has only one resident child who goes to school as normal in the day and at night returns to the care of community workers and carers who hope to provide care, guidance and support. Workers at the home simply hope to provide a safe and homely environment for the children. In February of this year the home was visited by a pair of young sisters who stayed at the home for around a month. The home can only cater for 6 youngsters at a time and therefore are in the process of planning an extension to the building so as next year the number of places available to children in addition to more space for carers can be established. Currently, Anren Home is in the process of installing many other internal facilities and welcome the help of people from all walks of life to give children a safe, warm and more suitable place of refuge in their time of need.  
 

A first for Chiayi county–?children can a last remain close to home  (by CJ E-news)

URL: http://www.peopo.org/news/73796

(以下為中文對照)

嘉義縣第一所　不必再外送孩童(公民記者 中正e報  報導)

照片

安仁家園是嘉義縣第一所提供給兒童以及青少年照顧與輔導的機構，由天主教嘉義教區成立。於今年三月二十一號正式啟用，天主教嘉義教區主教宗安住表示，成立 安仁家園以後，希望能就近幫助需要緊急收容的孩子，除生活照顧外，也提供心理與就學的輔導。而安仁家園院長謝孟潔也表示：整個全台灣部分只有嘉義縣沒有育 幼院，如果有遭受家暴、性侵或是失憑、失依的孩子部分，都可能必須外送到別的縣市。現階段安仁家園已收容一名孩童，白天正常上學晚上則由社工、保育人員陪 伴輔導，希望能給孩子另一個溫暖的家，而今年二月份緊急收容的一對小姊妹，也在一個月後回歸家庭。現在只能收容6名兒童的安仁家園，正在進行第二期擴建計 畫，希望明年能增加收容人數，並積極加強工作人員的素質。目前安仁家園在軟硬體設備上還需要各界的幫助，期望未來能給孩童一個更完善的照護空間。

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