domincans born to undocumented parents

lilmary11 · #1 03-30-2006, 05:57 PM

During a long drive thru the interior, we had the incredible opportunity to meet and spend the day with a group of young children who it seemed to me should have been in school. When we asked the adults, we were told that most of the children didnt have papers. My question is :Are these children not allowed to go to school if they are children of undocumented immigrants even if they were born in the D.R.? Is there a legal process to acquire the needed papers or is this a vicious cycle of illiteracy?

macocael · #2 03-30-2006, 06:31 PM

Just where were you when you happened upon this bunch? Children from the bateys for example are not in school because they dont have papers, that is the case, yes. Something like 30 percent or more of the people in the East and the South are undocumented: this includes Haitians, Dominico-Haitians, and Dominicans. If you want to learn something more about the bateys, have a look at these two pages:

http://www.darkhorseimages.com/Cane%20Page%20Final.htm

http://www.darkhorseimages.com/Curre...and%20News.htm

As for illiteracy, well unfortunately the public schools are a poor antidote to the illiteracy and innumeracy you find here. Even if a child manages to achieve an 8th grade education, chances are he or she will graduate with minimal reading and math ability.

People who visit this island are rarely aware of the severe problems we have here, and the media hardly deigns to notice, though there have been some really good articles coming out lately.

Dolores · #3 03-30-2006, 06:36 PM

Public schools will many times accept them without papers until 6th grade. There are a few exceptions of public high schools accepting them, but getting a title is difficult without a birth certificate.

The problem is that many are offspring of parents who have no legal identity whatsoever. In the case of the Haitians, the parents need to register first with the Haitian consulate and then they can register their children. But they first need their own identity. Then even if they are illegal, they would be accepted because they have at least an identity, a birth document issued by the Haitian consulate.

The lack of papers is a true national tragedy and also affects the children of thousands of Dominicans who were not registered by their parents. There are innumerable people that don't exist here. This so because while tax payers have paid for multiple programs to enact issuing birth certificates at public hospitals, this has not happened and the system whereby the father has to go and register the child within a 30 day period, or else they have to go through very cumbersome bureaucracy, continues. The issuing of the birth certificates at the hospitals would put an end at least to the identity-less children of Dominican parents. The matter was much debated when the Central Electoral Board (JCE) was pushing for a multimillion dollar program to purchase expensive equipment for implement electronic voting in the country. Voices urged that the money instead be spent to put the civil registry system to work for the people instead.

Mirador · #4 03-30-2006, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolores

Public schools will many times accept them without papers until 6th grade. ....

Dolores, this is the exception rather than the norm, and when they do accept them without a birth certificate, it is only for a probationary period of three months, after which they go home, which is frequently the case, because the parents do not have birth certificates themselves. In the Southwestern DR, over 30 percent of the adult population do not have birth certificates.

Only this year, a program to modernize the 'Oficialia del Estado Civil', sponsored by the OAS (Organization of American States), financed by the IDB (Interamerican Development Bank), and implemented by the Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo de Justicia), was sabotaged by the independent Electoral Board (Junta Central Electoral), and its future status is indeterminate.

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lilmary11 · #5 03-30-2006, 07:16 PM

Thanks for the information I plan to continue my research and return to offer whatever help i can to as many as i can in order to get a few of these kids to school.

GringoCArlos · #6 03-31-2006, 08:33 AM

One way to fill a school up fast is to offer the children either breakfast or lunch. No schools feed these kids, and many poor children don't get anything for breakfast. Hipolito's crew did try to come up with instant mangu , but a lack of a way to heat it up at each school was the stumbling block.

Feed them, and they will come.

DominicanScotty · #7 04-01-2006, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GringoCArlos

One way to fill a school up fast is to offer the children either breakfast or lunch. No schools feed these kids, and many poor children don't get anything for breakfast. Hipolito's crew did try to come up with instant mangu , but a lack of a way to heat it up at each school was the stumbling block.

Feed them, and they will come.

There is a school run by the F.A.D. in Puerto Plata. The name of the school is the Lt. Rosario Polanco School at the F.A.D. base. This school is an award winning school that brags a 95% of graduates that go on to college. Students are "hand picked" for their ambition and attitude in the classroom as well as at home. There is a waiting list to get into this top ranked school.

Guess what? Meals are provided there at no extra charge to the students. Not only that, there is also a school bus which picks up the students and drops them off. Some of you that live in the La Union area might have seen the dark blue school bus with F.A.D. written on it.

If you have any questions regarding this you can feel free to contact
Capt. Rafael Toribio Sosa, Director Colegio Comando Aereo Norte 809-586-0481 ext. 249. He will entertain any intelligent questions that anyone might have to ask.

lilmary11 · #8 04-02-2006, 08:49 AM

You would'nt happen to know how much the tuition is by chance . Maybe i could start by sponsering a child?