IMPROVEMENTS to Greenfields are on track to be completed by the end of the year – more than six years after inspectors said the “prison-like” building should be demolished.
Work at the secure children’s home, which houses vulnerable young Islanders, began last year and includes replacing doors and windows – improvements Children’s Minister Richard Vibert described as “critical”.
The Children, Young People, Education and Skills Department confirmed that the work remained on schedule. It said the improvements had been “carefully phased” to allow Greenfields to continue operating safely throughout.
Originally a youth detention facility, Greenfields later became a secure children’s home. During the pandemic, it also housed children experiencing mental-health crises.
A 2020 report by the Independent Children’s Homes Association described its bedrooms as “cell-like” and the way the centre used its resources as “chaotic”.
Although improvements to the surroundings followed, inspections by the Jersey Care Commission the following year identified further shortcomings in care. These included staff being “placed at risk” because they were unable to deal with threats of violence.
Funding for the current improvements was earmarked in the last Budget under the “Loving Homes” strategy, as part of “a wider whole-system change intended to significantly expand and modernise Jersey’s residential care capacity”.
The strategy also includes creating new residential homes and supported accommodation for young people.
In the longer term, other buildings on the Greenfields campus will be repurposed to provide “emergency accommodation”.
A CYPES spokesperson said: “The wider programme of improvement aims to create a more sustainable residential care system by expanding and modernising care provision and strengthening early intervention and family support services.”
