Care Leavers
Nadeesha really benefited from the flexibility of the Brighter Path model.
Care Leavers
Nadeesha’s Story
Brighter path is a small organisation and we operate on a modest scale. One of the advantages of this is that we are able to tailor our support to the very specific and individual needs of the young people we support. Nadeesha is a good example of a young person we helped through some very difficult times. She really benefited from the flexibility of the Brighter Path model.
When Nadeesha was still very young her father was imprisoned for killing another man in a fight. Her family was left destitute. She slept rough in a cemetery with her mother and her older brother Asanga. Her mother, who was an alcoholic, made what money she could by singing songs to entertain bus passengers. Before long Nadeesha, aged only 5, and her brother were placed in a children’s home by the probation services. She stayed in this home with her brother until she was 13 years old and then she was transferred to a girls only home a few hours away. She only saw her father once again after his release. He came to visit her when she was 15 years. She told me that he looked destitute. A few years later she heard that her father had died.
Nadeesha worked hard in her orphanage and passed her O-Levels and then A-Levels. When she was 19, she was ready to leave the children’s home but was told by staff that she could not. She had been identified as a useful worker who was good with younger girls. She was told that she was expected to stay and work as a matron in return for all that she had received over the years. For a young woman who had grown up in an institution this was an almost impossible situation. On the one hand she had a strong sense that this was wrong, that she could not be forced to stay. On the other she had no one to ask for help or advice. She was extremely vulnerable and did not really know whether what she was being told was right or wrong. What could she do? Her difficulties were compounded by a complete lack of support from visiting probation staff. It seems extraordinary but no professional was prepared to stand up for her or explain her rights to her. Probation officers told her that her only option if she did not stay was to agree to being released into the care of her older brother, Asanga. To this day no one has been able to give me a satisfactory explanation of how an adult woman could be forced by the state authorities to choose between staying in servitude or being signed over to a male relative, her brother, with whom she had almost no relationship.
In any event Asanga was not interested in helping his sister. He had by now left his children’s home and was doing odd jobs. He had not seen Nadeesha for years. So there she was, stuck in a horrendous legal limbo. Even though she was an adult she had no formal status, no papers and was unsure how to challenge either the Probation Service or the children’s home where she was now effectively imprisoned.
Desperate but at the point where she almost did not care what the personal consequences would be, Nadeesha eventually ran away from the children’s home in the middle of the night. She tracked down her brother and her one piece of good fortune was that Asanga knew someone at Brighter Path. He contacted us and from then on Brighter Path has supported Nadeesha.
Our priorities were sorting out Nadeesha’s legal status, finding her accommodation and supporting her with vocational training.
We instructed lawyers who brought court proceedings on her behalf to formalise her status and recognise her rights as an independent adult. Once this was done and a judge discharged her from the supervision of the state, we took Nadeesha to her children’s home where she was able to collect her personal belongings, school certificates and birth certificate. She had finally achieved the same legal status as any other adult of her age.
When Nadeesha joined our programme, we did not yet have a girls’ transition home. We looked carefully for somewhere for her to live independently and be safe. We were concerned for her welfare and her mental health was fragile. Our solution was to place her in accommodation which we rented from a supportive female lawyer who specialises in child protection. Nadeesha lived in a bedsit adjacent to the lawyer’s office. The lawyer worked there with several female paralegals which meant that as well as the Brighter Path staff there were lots of people checking in on Nadeesha every day and providing friendship and support. She also received some mental health support. This arrangement broke down when the pandemic struck and no one was able to come to the office any more. Nadeesha became very isolated and again her mental health suffered. After some time we realised that she would benefit from living in a family setting and she moved into the home of a carefully selected family as a paying guest whilst still being mentored daily by Brighter Path.
The third limb of our support for Nadeesha was supporting her through vocational training. She wanted to study to be a nursery teacher. This is a 2 year course which requires commitment and hard work. The course started well but again there were real problems during the early months of the pandemic when courses stopped and Nadeesha became very isolated. Her mental health deteriorated to the point where we were very concerned for her safety. There was a crisis period where she wasn’t looking after herself properly. She also stopped attending her course but we maintained our support and encouraged her to resume her training which she did. Brighter Path staff helped her through some very difficult times. As she progressed in her training Nadeesha started working with children in her nursery placement. She found that she really enjoyed this work and her health improved too.
Nadeesha completed her two year training course and qualified as a nursery teacher. She has been living independently for the last three years. She is now working in a well-regarded private nursery in Colombo and has good prospects. She is still in touch with Brighter Path and reaches out to us when she wants to. There are so many moments in Nadeesha’s journey when the odds against her just seemed impossible. Over the years we spent many hours on her individually, addressing her needs and supporting her. We are proud of all we have achieved together.
Further Reading
Brighter Path Birthday Party
In October, Caroline and John de Bono hosted a birthday party for Brighter Path. This was our first celebration since the official launch in 2018 and long overdue. Past and …
Trip to the South Coast
Last week some of our younger boy care leavers enjoyed an outing to the South Coast. At Brighter Path we try to organise regular trips, outings or fun activities so …
Homes for the Disabled in the Eastern Province
In August 2022 Brighter Path organised a relief project for three residential homes in the greater Polonarruwa area. Two of the homes, Arunalu and Parakum Uyana, provide accommodation for mentally …
