Drug orphans had already been in care

THE two children of a teenage mother who died from a suspected drug overdose are “in good hands and are going to be safe”, the Welfare Department said yesterday.

The body of 19-year-old Georgia Perdiki was found in a Larnaca hotel apartment at around midday on Tuesday by a chambermaid. A substance believed to be heroin was found in the room, along with a syringe next to her body.

According to Mary Tekki, a district welfare officer for the Department of Welfare in Larnaca, her two children, aged two and six, had not been living with her. “They had already been placed with separate foster families and are under the care of the Welfare Department. It is my wish that people let Georgia Perdiki rest in peace and respect her family’s privacy”.

The children’s father had also died of a drug overdose last month.

Maria Kyratzi, a spokeswoman at the Department of Welfare, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that figures on the total number of teenage mothers registered with the department were not available. “We unfortunately do not have these types of statistics”, she added.

However, Toulla Michailidou, the senior social worker at the Department, said: “the total number of teenage mothers in Cyprus is low, as it’s still considered a taboo subject on the island. Many girls are ashamed of their pregnancies, which are often hidden for as long as possible.”
She added that the Department of Welfare has a Family Support and Consultation programme, which is specially designed to provide assistance for teenage mothers, depending on their needs.

They are eligible for benefits including financial assistance, housing, food and psychological support.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.