By Yvonne Chin, Staff Reporter 
Youngsters at the Maxfield Park Children's Home examine a package of video cassettes presented to the institution. - File Photo
TENSION BETWEEN the staff and management at the Maxfield Park Children's Home in Kingston is threatening to slow down the restructuring exercise which is expected to improve the quality of care the wards there receive.
Although the relationship between the management and the workers has been strained for some time, it has deteriorated in recent months, the Sunday Gleaner understands.
"There have been rumours that a redundancy exercise is coming," said one member of staff. He said although they (the staff) have been hearing about the restructuring exercise for some time they were not being told anything concrete about it.
"The most obvious thing is that the staff is being moved around to work in different areas but we have not been given any details about what the restructuring plans are or how things will work and that has made the staff very uncomfortable," he said.
"All that happen is that the national breakfast of bread and butter and tea, all of a sudden been changed and staff get some new rules about not leaving their work area," said another worker.
Chairman of the board which runs the institution, Ruby Martin, was not willing to give details about the changes that are coming to the home.
However, she told The Sunday Gleaner that "We are looking at the entire structure to see how best we can develop it so that it is befitting to the children at Maxfield Park, bearing in mind that we cater for children from zero to 18 years old."
Mrs. Martin said, "We are looking at a system that has continuity, not just a fly by night situation but people don't necessarily like change."
The chairman said there had been meetings with the staff and children at the home so that they could make inputs in the restructuring programme and talk about the problems they were having. She, however, told The Sunday Gleaner that the staff had said very little, so far.
"Management is not listening," said one care-giver. She says as a result, the management makes changes and has rules and expectations that are not rooted in an understanding of what is happening on the ground.
She said, "I consider myself to be a creative, compassionate, hard worker and I would like to have a voice, but there was a feeling that the management had lumped both bad and good workers together and trusted nobody.
The staff member contends that while the relationship between the staff and management remains strained, it's the children who suffer in the
interim.
"Everything that happens between the management and the staff has a spin-off effect on the children. The children know when everything is not alright and they will take sides or manipulate the situation by playing one side against the other," said one care-giver who requested anonymity.
Another care-giver told The Sunday Gleaner that because of the state of affairs between the management and staff, some employees are not willing to go beyond what is required of them.
"Close the gap between management and the workers and the gap between workers and the children will eventually close," was the solution she offered.
Other staff members at the institution complained about what they called, "red tape and hoarding."
According to them, Maxfield Park Children's Home has been blessed with generous donations but that the things are sometimes "kept under lock and key until they are of no use."
"Just recently they threw out boxes and boxes of tin milk and other things that they had locked up in storage until them spoil, yet they are telling you that you are to use what is allotted to you and not to request more. That cannot be right," she said.
"I am happy that the Ministry (of Health) has a committee that is supposed to be looking into children's homes. I hope they come here and look into every area," another said.
The Ministry of Health has set up a committee which is currently looking into the operations of the island's children's homes.
