Children under SVSG care return home after parents recover

Source: SVSG

Three siblings who were separated from their COVID-positive parents during the second week of the national lockdown in Samoa, have returned home safely.

The children were brought under the shelter care of the Samoa Victim Support Group, when the mother called the Helpline for fear of her children contracting what she suspected, were symptoms of the omicron variant of the COVID-19.  These are parents who wanted to do everything possible to protect their older children while continued to care for their twin babies themselves.

After two weeks of home isolation, the mother recovered and was tested negative and she then reached out to SVSG for her children to return home.

Saying goodbye.

As a child protection agency, SVSG acknowledges the mother’s attentiveness to her children’s safety, despite the difficulty of being separated from them, even for a while.

The mother’s concern paid off, as she was allowed to rest and recover from COVID while her children were cared for at the Campus of Hope shelter facility.

In addition, the children got their second Pfizer shots while at the shelter, together with the rest of the shelter children of the same age.  Their time spent at the Campus enabled them to improve their knowledge on the safety tips for the children in light of the COVID pandemic.

“In times of crisis as this, we stand together as a community, helping each other out, and being there for each other.  It is not only a test of our compassion, but a testimony of a community in solidarity,” said the SVSG media release.

The Chair of the SVSG Board, Georgina Lui acknowledges with appreciation the partnership with UNICEF Pacific in ensuring protection for the children of Samoa from violence, and from health crisis as the COVID pandemic.

SVSG also acknowledged its co-partners for its Helpline services, Digicel Samoa and Vodafone Samoa, for enabling the community to call for help free of charge.