The ag­gres­sive po­si­tion on abuse in chil­dren's homes tak­en by Min­is­ter of Gen­der, Youth and Child De­vel­op­ment Mar­lene Coudray was a im­por­tant step for­ward ad­dress­ing con­di­tions at these in­sti­tu­tions.Ms Coudray has ex­pressed clear con­cerns about child abuse since De­cem­ber 2012, when she com­mis­sioned the Gate­keep­er's In­ter­ven­tion and Out­reach Cen­tre in San­ta Cruz.

That project she saw as $3.1 mil­lion well spent on reach­ing out to young peo­ple through their peers in a com­mu­ni­ty-lev­el project led by the To­co Foun­da­tion.In June, Ms Coudray called for charges to be laid against the aunt of six-year-old Ronase Os­bourne who died in a fire at home in Port-of-Spain. The child was left alone, locked in an HDC apart­ment, when her aunt went to buy break­fast.

Speak­ing at the launch of this year's Akiel Cham­bers Jus­tice for Chil­dren March or­gan­ised by the Jeri­cho Project in April, the Gen­der Min­is­ter ac­knowl­edged re­ports of abuse at homes sup­port­ed by the Gov­ern­ment, and the lack of prop­er sys­tems for mon­i­tor­ing and re­view­ing such al­le­ga­tions.By last week, the min­is­ter was threat­en­ing firmer mea­sures at the na­tion's or­phan­ages dur­ing the for­mal open­ing of four new res­i­den­tial units at the St Mary's Chil­dren's Home at Tacarigua, con­sid­er­ing plac­ing video mon­i­tors in these homes.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/dig­i­tal/new-mem­bers