Safe Haven is
reorganising
PHILIPSBURG--Now that the dust around Safe Haven and its financial issues has settled somewhat, the shelter for battered women and children is seeking a coordinator to manage its daily operations.
Finding a new coordinator and re-organising the workings of the shelter were part of the recommendations outlined in the operations audit carried out by the Government Accounts Bureau (SOAB).
Safe Haven Foundation President Oldine Bryson-Pantophlet told The Daily Herald her team and the Women’s Desk were working tirelessly to complete the re-organisation. However, she could not give a timeframe in which this would be completed.
Re-organising includes restructuring of the board and management, the establishment of a manual for operations that determines chain of command and specific tasks for parties involved, amongst other matters.
The Island Government decided last month “to limit the subsidy (for Safe Haven) to the most necessary expenditures for the daily operations,” Finance Commissioner Sarah Wescott-Williams had announced. Full subsidy is supposed to be restored to the foundation after it has complied with the audit recommendations.
Asked how Safe Haven was surviving, the president said, “The subsidy was not cut” and it was only a matter of “Certain things needed to be in place” such as documents government has requested, and this was being handled at the moment. “I am confident that everything will work out in our favour.”
The shelter is being run by volunteers at the moment to ensure that the vital service it provides to the community is readily available.
The Safe Haven board dismissed its Director and three other staff members in May with the claim that there were financial irregularities, and commissioned an audit of the foundation’s operations. The audit report was made after this.
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