Junior Minister of Community and Social Rehabilitation, Thaao Dill read over the Budget for his ministry in the Senate yesterday, echoing part of Minister Dale Butler's address in the House more than two weeks ago.

Sen. Dill spoke about the success of the Mirrors programme which was launched in 2007 saying 33 people successfully graduated from the programme. However, there were 99 teenagers at the orientation meeting.

Mirrors was hosted by Willow Bank and saw 17 men and 15 woman take part. Sen. Dill explained these students had been suspended from school, had ongoing family issues and gang related problems before participating in Mirrors. To date, 32 of the participants are enrolled in school and one has full-time employment.

Mirrors has been given $1 million by Government over the next financial year.

The Department of Child and Family Services has been allocated $13.6 million for 2008/2009. Sen. Dill praised the Happy Valley Child Care Centre which is the only Government operated child care facility with a maximum of 44 children aged from infant to four-years-old. The facility will receive $976,000 for the next year.

He explained the day care plans to have a fully accredited programme this year and plans to focus on programmes to get fathers more involved with parenting workshops.

Sen. Dill spoke about Services to Individuals and Families which has been given $5.2 million and announced the past year saw 536 children referred to social services for abuse, 155 of which were unsubstantiated and 227 were. Eighty-five were suspected but there was not enough evidence for legal action.

In foster care, there are 144 children, 17 because parents were diagnosed with psychiatric problems. The number of foster parents is 108.

That department will receive $2.2 million for 2008/2009.

"That's a commitment of titanic proportions," Sen. Dill said and thanked all the foster parents. He repeatedly said throughout his presentation: "This is an example of the Government spending the people's money in the right way for the right reasons."

Sen. Dill also spoke about programmes that fall under Community and Cultural Affairs including the summer student internship initiative that provides summer jobs for many high-school students across the Island.

He explained the department is very busy this year with the 400th anniversary of the founding of Bermuda, 2009, just around the corner. The theme is "Celebrating Bermuda and Her People" and will see a different project in each month of next year with July named anniversary month.

The final item on the budget was the Department of National Drug Control which receives $6.6 million for the year. Senators discussed the National Drug Control master plan which was created in December and will run for the next five years. The policy has been also been translated into Portuguese.

He explained the department has been working with Works and Engineering to create a transitional house for women staffed by the Women's Resource Centre which will be ready in May.

UBP Senator Gina Spence-Farmer questioned why there was such a large amount of participants who did not graduate from the Mirrors programme but congratulated the Government for moving in the right direction. She also wondered if the programme would tackle gang-related issues for participants and volunteers.

Sen. Spence-Farmer said the families in Bermuda are "under siege" with the cost of living so high and so many families living below the poverty line. She said one of the main challenges families face is childcare being so expensive.